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Health Problems Related to the Geek Lifestyle
jonasj writes "A doctor and former programmer has written a good article on common geek health problems. From the article: 'If I were to go and try to run a few miles this weekend, I would not be able to easily do so. [...] However, if you take one of the these college basketball athletes, any of them would be able to run miles without even breathing heavy. However, if you made them sit down and try to learn Java for 12 hours a day, most of them would be asleep at their desk before lunch. The typical geek trains their brain to be heavily focused while multitasking day after day. Is it surprising that this same brain does not do well when forced to isolate down to one task?'"
and pain/stiffness means you can't concentrate.
My job demands concentration. I can't do it if I can't concentrate, because my arms hurt, or my legs are so, or I slept badly because of pain.
Excercise is demoralizing and exhausting: you feel miserable before, during, and after you drag yourself out to a workout, and then you compound that misery by having to fret about losing your job due to bad performance because you can't concentrate.
I've tried excercise. It doesn't work. Getting to work all sweaty and covered with bike grease is a good way to stay stuck in your position; get a tie, a nice suit, and proper clothes, and take the bus or the taxi, and you'll get ahead.
The company doesn't care if you're in shape. They care that you're well dressed and not dripping with sweat, that you're focused and alert (so you need caffiene, not those "natural highs" that don't last), and that you can get work done (rather than grimacing in pain and exhaustion).
You can be in shape, or you can be a geek. You can't do both (well).
I'll second that, I do my best thinking the next day after a good bike ride
the night before. Having a heart rate monitor helps me pace myself in the hills.
Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)