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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?'"
Is it surprising?
No.
I mean come on everyone knows - if you don't excercise then you don't have strength and endurance.
And the computer geek lifestyle leaves little time for excercising.
Same thing with a professional basketball athlete - he does muscle and coordination training for hours daily. He does not practice abstract semantic concepts in his head while making those baskets, either.
I'm really not seeing where the story is here.
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
I've always found it funny that 'geeks' revel in the fact that they can't be healthy. Stupid stereotypes.
Excercise is a good thing - yeah, it takes a bit of effort (and cursing) to get into it, but once you get into the habit, everything just seems to flow better - smoother thinking, better sleep and so on.
This guy is a quack.
I'm sorry, but putting up an excuse for not being physically active because your brain can't deal with only handling a single task is specious at best.
There are plenty of us programmers, geeks, and nerds who still engage in sports and athletic activities. I have my degree in Computer Science from the U of A, graduated with a > 3.5 GPA, work as a software engineer, and yet I still play soccer, go to the gym, mountain bike, snowboard and can run a mile no sweat.
Just cause this guy can't is no reason to stereotype the rest of us.
*yawn*
I'm not healthy because I spend all my spare time staring at a monitor reading /. and watching movies/tv shows. If I really wanted to, I could dedicate some of my excess spare time to exercising (as athletic people already do). It's a matter of mindset; athletic people - even if they are tied up and forced to learn java - would still go out and play sports and be in good shape and geeks don't have the drive. We're lazy.
Yes, I consider myself a tech enthusiast and know my way around most things electronic (and mechanical) pretty well. I would not be posting here if I wasn't.
But to make a blanket statement that people who are techies have poor health habits is absurd. I go run, ride the bike, and go lift very often- I have at least 40 minutes of hard physical activity a day. I ran a half-marathon in under an hour and a half and put up 235 pounds on the bench for anybody who doubts me. I also rarely eat fast food. I bet I can out-run and out-lift whatever journalist wrote that crap, as well as be able to keep my computer rid of Viagra pop-up ads.
This kind of crap sickens me like it should sicken 95% of the other tech people who are not in any worse of shape than the average non-techie desk jockies and couch potatoes.
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
Several years ago I finally figured out a few things.
If I do one thing at a time it gets done faster, and with better results than if I try to multitask.
If I get out for exercize - any exercize - a couple of times a week I feel better and can work more productively.
If I limit work to something like 9-5 (well, actually 10-4) I get more done, with better results.
If I have interests outside work like art, or film, or reading, or just hiking in the woods, my work improves.
Despite the Wal-Martization of work in North America, it remains true that a healthy, balanced lifestyle allows you to work faster and more productively.
Yes, the less that I work, the more that I am able to do.
Three Squirrels
This guy is clueless and confused. He even proposes a genetic basis for the problem. First he states that "Poor Attention Span" is a problem for geeks then his argument is that they have a GOOD attention span and get bored when running... which is it?
Some of my best programming time (problem solving) happens when I am running, XC skiing, etc. You have to pay attention and multitask to perform any exercise (as well as program). If you get bored and don't pay attention while running, you'll fall over.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
I disagree completely. I fit most of the geek stereotypes, but I typically focus on one thing to the point of complete oblivion of all else, especially when coding. I ignore the time and other things that get in the way. When forced to break my train of thought, it can take me like 5-10 minutes to get back the state I was in before where I have the complete grasp on all aspects of what I'm working on.
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
I'm a geek. I work for IBM. I run several websites in my spare time. I play German board games. I watch anime, and in fact ran the largest anime club in the US for several years. I do a freaking podcast four nights a week.
You want to know what I did last Sunday? I climbed a mountain. Yesterday, after work, I ran 4 miles. Today, I'm going to run another 4. Last week, I biked 10. I lift weights. I play DDR.
Being a geek has NOTHING to do with being a lazy fat ass. Using that as an excuse is pathetic. A pasty, weak geek sitting in his parents' basement in front of a computer is no better off than a pasty, beer-bellied sports geek sitting in his livingroom in front of a TV.
Mind and body are both important. To exercise one at the expense of the other is unbalanced and unhealthy (severe medical problems aside). The Greeks knew this. The Romans knew this. It's nothing new.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Maybe you should find a different job if the 'rule' is to work 9 to 9, 5 days a week, every week. Unless of course you are getting paid overtime.
My life got much more enjoyable when I realized that work is just that...work. I've got better things to do than sit in an office for 12 hours a day.
here's the irony:
the more you exercise, the less you feel like you need to stretch or get massaged
using your muscles stretches and massages them
much back pain is impacted muscular tissue that you'd think could be helped with deep-muscle massage
some is strained muscular tissue that needs stretching and strengthening
working that tissue the way it's designed to work opens up the channels for blood and lymph and makes the fibers more supple
no more pain
oh, and one more benefit: after the first few workouts, you'll probably stop getting post-exercise soreness as well; in fact, you'll be tempted to think you're not progressing because of it; that's when you start increasing reps (from 5 reps to 12 or more in 2-rep increments per session) and weight (add an increment when you hit 12 or more reps and go back to 5 reps), and improving your strength; you still won't feel sore, but you'll know from the numbers that you put up that you're getting something out of it
Well, it is also hard to find the hours in the day to do it 'all'. Right now, I've got an extra PITA in that my job is moving around the state (post Katrina)...I now have a commute that is about 1 hour each way...worse if I hit traffic. So, I now have 2 hours of the day just travelling, which I've never had to do, but, I know lots of others do. But, say you have 2 hours travel, 8 hours work, and say about 1 hour or so to cook, eat and put things away..add maybe 1 more hour for getting up and ready in the morning, that's 12 hours...with 8 hours of sleep, that leaves maybe 4 hours in there somewhere..and that gets lost often in the middle of the other activities...
Before I had to do this, my schedule was pretty full, up at 6am..walk dog, get ready, work at 8am..off at 4:30, to gym...1.5-2 hours, get home about 6:30, take out dog, cook, clean, pack lunch and gym back for next day..by then it was close to 9pm...watch tv for a little and try to crash about 10:30 or 11pm.
I had a hard time squeezing anything else in to that schedule...and I don't have a wife and kids to bother with. People with full blown families, I don't see where they can fit time in for exercise, hell most of them can't seem to find time to cook home cooked meals anymore, and just eat junk food.
No wonder we're all in bad health....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Seriously. I've never understood why people look at their jobs *as* their life, as opposed to simply a part of it. I make a point of leaving at 5, and never taking my work home with me unless it's absolutely necessary. Working 12 hours a day and leaving nothing for yourself is a miserable way to live, and it doesn't *have* to be that way.
I'm sorry, why can't a person be both a geek and healthy? Just give up 30 minutes of WoW, 3 times a week, and go run/ride/lift/stretch/something. And cut down on the grilled stuffed burritos and mountain dew. You'll be glad to have done it the next time you have to lug your gaming rig with the dual video cards, 12 cooling fans, and a 20 pound power supply to a LAN party.
For that matter, why can't a person be both an athlete and geeky? Think of plays as functions. Your selector class reads a variable passed by the QB/coach/point guard, then picks a function and executes the steps. Coaches spend enough time pounding plays into jocks heads, so someone might as well take pride in being good at learning them quickly and executing them properly. OOP. Object Oriented Playmaking. The only drawback is when endzone_dance() gets stuck in an endless do/while loop.
I recognize some people have truly crappy jobs and spend 12 hours a day in front of a monitor, but I'd be more than willing to bet that the vast majority of geeks have time to spare for exercising and healthy cooking if they're willing to re-arrange their priorities a little.
You're right though. I'm not seeing much of a story in this. Exercising and eating right makes you healthier. Doing brain work helps intellectual acuity.
My chest and shoulders are actively hurting right now because of the rigorous resistance training I did yesterday as I sit here looking at a monitor display and typing on an ergonomic keyboard while I pretend to be writing java code.
;-)
I highly encourage you to get to the gym, make yourself go regularly. The health benefits are outstanding, and the girls definitely pay more attention. Most people will be impressed simply because you're a geek and a gym rat.
I'm not trying to delude anyone. You're not going to turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger if you're a scrawny fucker like me, but if you seriously commit to it the difference will surprise you and maybe even get you laid. Besides, the chicks at the gym are often hot, and they don't wear those outfits anywhere else.
Question everything
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?
So if you were to tell your basic geek to Juggle with one hand, play sudoku on their cell phone with the other AND run a mile it would be no problem. Somehow I don't think concentration has anything to do with the heavy breathing...
That's asinine. Athletes train their bodies, reflexes and "game brains" to multitask just as much as a geek. Java might be really hard to learn, but so is executing a double play; running the triangle offense; or reading coverages while deciding between the called timing route, checking down to the crossing route, or going to the outlet receiver while evading a pack of 6-foot-seven, 360 pound men in plastic armor who are freaking nimble. And some of these athletes do multiple sports. This author does a disservice to geeks (many of whom are athletic and fit) AND to jocks (many of whom are brilliant both in their sports and "conventional" measures of intelligence).
yes. that's all I'm going to say in all comments from now on.
Your posture suffers when you're depressed; people who are feeling crappy tend to slouch while those who are feeling fine tend to keep their backs straightened. If someone is chronically depressed, their posture is bad enough for long enough that back muscles strain and the spine is thrown out of alignment.
I wouldn't go so far as to suggest Zoloft or Prozac to people suffering from chronic back pain, but depression would be a valid factor to examine.