Staying Healthy When Working 12 Hours a Day?

dwija asks: "I just got a new job where I just sit in one place all day and work for 12 hours at a stretch. This goes on for 4 days a week and I get 3 days off. The journey to and from my office takes up about 3 hours of my day. I am a little worried now cause i am becoming really weak and I am not as healthy as I used to be. I want to ask others on Slashdot about the kinds of weird times in which they work and what they do to take care of their health and stress."

Comments

Avoid caffeine & carbs

[Spamsonite]

I'm working 7-days a week, 14 hours a day doing IT for the world's largest rodeo in Houston. Like you, I drive approximately 3 hours a day to and from work.

Even though both caffeine and carbs provide a short-term energy boost, I find that avoiding them completely makes me much more alert and energetic overall. The crash when the caffeine or insulin levels swing knocks me out cold.

Unlike you, my job has me running all day long, so I don't usually run into trouble until the drive home. If I've kept an even blood-sugar all day, I'm usually just fine. On days when I've had to grab a burger (or worse) for lunch, I sometimes have to stop on the side of the road and catch a short nap to stay safe. Sleeping on the side of the road, even in a well-lit rest stop, is a health risk in it's own right...

Re:Avoid caffeine & carbs

[EnglishTim]

I find it odd that you're recommending a Japanese diet and also recommending cutting carbohydrates. Rice is a large part of the traditional Japanese diet.

As for the whole carbs thing - the extent to which they'll spike your blood sugar will vary a lot. White bread will be converted to sugars much more quickly than brown bread. Stick to the less-processed, high fibre stuff and you'll be fine.

That's one of the things that annoys me about the Atkins diet - it's generated this popular idea that carbs = bad.

Quit your job

[anpe]

There's nothing that justifies the fact you'll give away your health for money.
Move to another city, state or country. Don't put yourself any artificial constraint. There are lots of places on earth where you'll get a decent life. Move.

Excersize at work

[n1ywb]

Do you have stairs? Climbing stairs is great exercise that will get your heart rate up really fast. If you take two or three 10 minute stair climbing breaks per day, it will increase your average metabolism, even when you are sitting around.

Also, exercise like a bastard on your days off.

Re:Excersize at work

[ScottSpeaks!]

Elevators are for the weak/injured, people with large packages, skyscraper-dwellers, and people who hate themselves. People who take elevators down are especially suspect in their common sense; there's a reason they're called "elevators" (or "lifts"), people.

I stopped using elevators a few years ago. I do hands-on tech support in an 8-story building, and the only time I push a button to change floors is when I'm carrying something heavy or pushing a cart. It hasn't turned me into Charles Atlas, but I'm definitely healthier than I used to be.

It even saves time! Like I said, I'm no athlete, but I still find myself passing someone waiting for the elevator on the 1st floor as I go into the stairwell, then see them get off the elevator as I'm sitting at my desk on the 4th floor. They sometimes look at me funny, as if they'd just seen Clark Kent miss the school bus, then he greets them in the parking lot at Smallville High, but it's not my fault they don't understand the concept of "walking" instead of "standing".

Re:Excersize at work

[Xner]

Elevators are for the weak/injured, people with large packages, skyscraper-dwellers, and people who hate themselves. People who take elevators down are especially suspect in their common sense; there's a reason they're called "elevators" (or "lifts"), people.

Walking stairs downwards is actually a lot heavier on the knees than walkign them upwards, especially if you have a pre-existing condition (sports injury) or are overweight (larger forces on the joints). I'd therefore tend to reccomend that people that are hopelessly out of shape start out by taking the stairs when going up, and the lift when goign down.

Get excercise!

[Pathwalker]

I work 12 hour night shifts, alternating between 3 and 4 days a week; I have worked this shift since 2001.

The two biggest things to remember are:

• Take breaks
• Get Excercise

I keep a copy of xwrits running on my workstation.
When it goes off, I go run up and down an eight story staircase a couple of times before going back to work.

It's worked out pretty well for me over the years.

Simple solution

[Jorkapp]

May not be your cup of tea, but...

Quit your job and join the military. Plenty of fitness, decent pay, they usually pay for a whole lot of crap you normally would (housing, education, some meals, etc).

Not only that, you could find a liking for something you didn't consider during your elementary/high school years. I found a liking for aviation when I was planned for a CS career. Now I'm looking forward to many great years of flying.

Quit

[Darth_Burrito]

I used to work at a death march job. 60 hour work weeks. Lousy environment. Lots of stress. No appreciation. I was miserable and my health was probably not what it could have been. Within a few months of quiting, I felt great. Apparently I also looked a lot better because everyone I ran into kept asking questions like... Have you lost weight? You been going to the gym? Of course I hadn't been anywhere near a gym and I weighed the same as the day I quit, but leaving that horrible place made a huge difference that was visible to everyone around me.

If you're unhappy or unhealthy, and if you can't make it so you are happy and healthy (by juggling schedules or whatever), then quit. Life's too short.

3 hour drive? Move closer...

[anthony_dipierro]

Why can't you move closer? I can't imagine you have any commitments at home for the 6 hours you're there, other than sleep. At the least you could rent a place to sleep near work. If you're putting yourself through all this you must be making good money. Spend some of it.

Maybe your computer can actually help

[breem42]

Have you seen the project "Workrave". It encourages you to take a break, and gives you exercises so that you don't get too stiff.

Use "Lunch." DON'T SIT THERE (for too long)

[QuietRiot]

Prepare lunch for the next day before you go to sleep. Put in in the fridge.

Jog for 5 minues at soon as you get up and before your shower. Even if it's just around the block. Wake. Throw on shorts (or sweats if it's cold), some old socks (why dirty a new pair?), and a sweater. Go outside and run around the block or down to the corner and back. Then shower and have a good healthy (it can be quick!) breakfast. Bring the CD-R you prepared the night before with an automatic script full of the latest podcasts, TTS news, or random selection from your audio collection - hop in the car and drive. Pick up a friend, coworker, or slug on the way if you can.

Go for a jog around the building when you get to work (after your drive) and before you leave. It can be quick. They'll laugh but you're not the one with the weak legs for weekend activities!

Make good use of your lunch break. Have a sandwich while climbing the stairs to the top of your building.

Promise yourself 20 crunches and 50 pushups before the day is over (how long does it take to do 10 pushups and don't tell me you can't take 5 short breaks over 12 hours...). Set a timer.

Find some pipes in the utility closet and do 5 pullups a day for 2 months. Each month after add 2 more. Do these on a piss break.

Eat Fruit. No heavy lunches. Bring yogurt (if you're into that kind of thing - cold plain vanilla w/ sugar sprinkled on top - delish!) Eat nuts (yes - something _other_ than peanuts).

Do at least an hour or two of non-staring_at_the_computer_screen work if you can help it. Plan. Use a notepad and pencil. Make calls. Write a letter to your congressman or old friend or mother or grandparent or serviceman.

10 jumping jacks every 71 minutes. Set a timer.

Go see Jane or Mark on the other side of the building to say hi - find an excuse. Take a walk to the next building or volunteer to take things to the post box. Be back in a timely fashion.

Keep a bottle of water nearby, fill it religiously and get yourself lots of piss breaks. WATER IS GOOD FOR YOU. PASS IT THROUGH. EXERCISE THOSE NEPHRONS. Get a Brita (a BIG one) for your desk or buy those large 2 1/2 gallon jugs at the supermarket. (Spring over distilled - you lose the minerals with distilled). Water will keep you from feelingl like crap from sitting there all day, force you to get up, and keep you hydrated for all the running and stair-climing you're doing. Water is your body's oil. ESPECIALLY if you drink coffee - drink lots of water. Keep ahead of the diuretic effects. See if you can down a quart and a half of plain water three times a day (sure. go it all at once -- no pussy footin' around. Chug it!)

Take your vitamins.

Find some guys to play pickup basketball or ultimate.

Ask your boss about taking an hour to go to the gym. Give him a guilt trip about your health. Or go at lunch after eating at your desk @ 11a and having an apple and nuts when you get back. You'll probably be more productive if you actually have a chance to get up and be active.

Find a stretch regimen and commit to doing it twice a day.

Park your car not at home but down the street next to a well-lit bike rack. Ride there, drive to work. Drive back, ride home.

Have lots of sex on your 3 days off!

Re:Buy a rowing machine

[cide1]

I have rowed at the University level (Purdue in the U.S.) and can honestly say that out of all cardio exercises, I find rowing to be the easiest on the body. When done intensely and incorrectly, it can be hard on the back and knees. This is rare, and more likely a result of bad form.

A rowing machine (most often called an erg), is a lot more than just a piece of exercise equipment. Many work very hard on achieving certain goals, such as 1 million meters, or rowing a marathon. At the university level, we always concentrated on 2k, 5k, 6k and long distances. During the winter, it wouldn't be uncommon to sit down and row 40k in a practice just to build endurance. Others days we would do 12 one minute on, one minute off pieces, and go home and just crash. Because rowing is so low impact, most rowers peak quite a bit older than in other sports. The Men's 2k world record is held by a person in the 30-39 age group. $800 is cheaper than a gym membership over time, and I recommend either a stereo or TV to go with the thing. The YMCA near me has several Concept2 erg's, and I would recommend looking at a couple of sites for some technique information, and try them out.

The great thing about rowing, is that if you enjoy it, pretty much any city with a river will have a club. Here you can meet other people interested, find coaches, and use their boats. In some select cities (Philly, Boston) their is a country club atmosphere to these places. Anywhere else, they are just normal people, like a bike club or gym.

Even though I no longer row competitively, I still use an erg for a good warmup and cool down, no matter what my exercise routine for the day is.

Investment Banking

[nelsonal]

I work in finance where probably everyone in the industry knows full well that top bankers get paid in the 7 figures. This compensation is partly because there aren't many bankers who continue to maintain the lifestyle required to be a top performing banker for very many years. A similar case would be oil field workers (who work long hours with few prequisites other than the capacity to work very hard for a lot of hours in good oil years) but humans cannot work 40 years in these fields. The smart ones save enough to retire young or fund a different career, the dumb ones blow the cash on drugs, sex, and fun and while they have some really cool stories are completely burned out at around 40. If you are not saving enough in your current job to successfully transition into something else in 10-20 years leave now.

10-12 hrs / day 6 days/week @ 43y.o.

[renehollan]

I work between 10-12 hours a day about 6 days a week. That's an average week: crunch time will have me working 100-120 hours a week. I've done this for over 20 years and am now 43 years old. My weight is stable, I am not obese (though I don't need to gain any more weight and could probably stand to lose 10-15 pounds), and (this is the most important part), I love my work.

This does not mean that I do not get exhausted at times. I'll take the odd two or even three day weekend if I need to recharge -- on my schedule. I can come in at 10 or 11 or later or whenever I like, for the most part (unless I have an important meeting scheduled) -- my hours are flexible, so if I happen to sleep in an extra hour or 90 minutes, it's no disaster. Yeah, there are the times when I work until 2-3 A.M., or even all night (about 3-4 times a year), and a regular 8 hour day after that.

My commute is better than yours though: only 45 minutes one way.

The thing is that I have control over when I work those hours and that makes all the difference in the word. 4x12 hours a week on the clock would probably be far worse.

What do I do to relax? I take quick frequent breaks at the office, sometimes 5 minutes every 15 to 30. While I'll often be oblivious to the fact that the lunch and dinner hour have passed, I'll go and eat when I feel hungry, regardless of the time (it's rarely noon and 6:00 PM).

Now, I'm not given that much work -- I take it on: trying my best to accomodate feature requests from those that use the software I produce (mostly test automation support tools these days) request (particularly when they are useful to a wider audience), even if they arrive, well, "informally".

I'm an asshole if you get on my bad side, but will bend over backwards to help anyone who's willing to contribute at least half the work. I must be doing something right if the number of "Rene went above and beyond the call of duty to help me" emails my boss (and his) gets are any indication: it's starting to get embarassing. My "self-assessment" on annual reviews is usually far harsher than my boss's -- I don't give a shit if I "exceeded" goals: they could always have been "exceeded" more, and to rest on one's laurels is a death sentence for a software dev. Heck, I code in C# on a .NET platform precisely because I knew nothing about it a year ago. I hold my own. Being a C++ expert gets boring after a while, ya know?

I'm not a "team player": I prefer to stay at work and code up a little utility that would help a bunch of people be more productive, rather than go on "morale events". If I died tomorrow, what would leave a better impact, if globally imperceptible, on the world?

In short, I have no one to blame for my work ethic than myself.

Perhaps that's the difference: I have control over the hours I work, and if I decided that I needed a 2-3 week break (I rarely take more than one week of vacation a year), no one would likely blink an eyelid. I suspect, however, if my hours were regimented, even if they amounted to 40-50 a week, I'd be miserable.

So, I wonder, if part of your problem is misery regarding your working conditions, and a lack of control over them. I don't think anything can really help overcome that, except looking for a better job. I've been in shops like that and utterly miserable too (and not particularly productive).

While I don't always like my job I love my work. Do you love yours?