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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?'"
Please move along at least every hour or two before you add deep vein thrombosis to your list of troubles.
The bed should only be used for two things-sex and sleep.
Or, in the case of geeks, one thing.
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*
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If it weren't for my intense geek lifestyle, I might never have gotten rid of that parasite I found myself host to, a terrifying creature which constantly drained my health and resources day and night.. but thanks to my intense multitasking focus and nerd powers, she eventually left me and moved back in with her folks.
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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.
I've never considered it a lifestyle. It's more like playing dodgeball with the sun.
I have nothing to say.
With proper coaching that the coordination would eventually come.
The geek environment seems to value intellectual achievement so highly, that when someone's physical ability shows promising traits, its almost as if we don't recognize that ability and move along.
Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ -- Exercise for the rest of us.
Becoming forgetful and posting dupe articles to /.
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
...all cock-blockery aside...
I'm fat because my brain can't focus on a single task? Here I thought it was all the taco bell and doritos I ate, combined with the fact that I sit on my big ass 24 hours a day. All along it's been because my brain just likes to multitask. Thank you, TFA, for giving me yet another excuse to skip that pesky personal responsibility thing and blame something else for my lard ass.
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?
...here's a link to the Hacker's Diet discussed on /. on on many earlier occasions. It helped me lose (40lbs) (albeit in combination with modified low-carb diet) ...maybe it'll help somebody else out of a 200lb mess.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
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
My back pain went away when I started using a machine at the gym that you strap into and do reverse sit-ups in. You sit and lean back repeatedly. It is extremely easy to do even with 200+ lbs on it and it really helps. When I cancelled my gym membership for financial reasons, the pain returned.
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!
Oddly, my wrist pain went away too. I used to get achy wrists after a long day.
I even got some tech to make it more interesting, I have optical goggles and am pondering how to make a waterproof mp3 player.
Man, you really need that seminar!
Do back bridges.. just try and get your back off the ground for the first week, then work up to holding for a few seconds, then to getting your head up off the floor. After two weeks, you'll have better posture, and your back will feel better.
meh
I was going to RTFA, but methinks the web server is having health problems related to the geek lifestyle.
"Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
I used to wear glasses, and then switched to contacts, expecting not to like them.
It ended up relieving eyestrain, increasing clarity, and got rid of my headaches. They require less maintanence, and they cost a fraction of what glasses cost.
It turns out since one of my eyes was so much worse than the other, there was a telescoping effect that caused one eye to see things bigger than the other causing disorientation. Since contacts are right on the eye, that effect is no longer a factor.
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.
"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 agree with your post, that there are plenty of techies who don't fit the geek stereotype, yourself included. But the people who doubt you probably won't be convinced by claims of athletic prowess
But those of us geeks who exercise regularly, maintain healthy relationships with our significant others and families, enjoy sports, eat well... maybe we're not true geeks. "Tech enthusiast" is a better label for us, and it's the one you used in your post.
Somehow, though, "News for Tech Enthusiasts/Stuff that Matters to Part of Your Lifestyle" just doesn't sound so great.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
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
I would add to all that a problem with frequent heart-burn. I go through rolaids like they're candy.
Until this last week. An office worker of mine is Hindu and told me, in an unrelated conversation, about a Hindu proverb or saying that says to chew each bite of food 28 times. He said something about how you'll eat less and enjoy your food more.
So, I started thinking about how I chew. I was startled. Probably as a result of always being on the go, and maybe bad eating habits from the Army, I mostly chew my food just enough to swallow it. So, I've really focused on chewing my food. I find that it often takes up to 40 chews to get a good thorough job of it. But, the amazing result is that for the last week, without changing my diet (which includes spicy thai food, hot wings, etc), I haven't needed a rolaids or tums.
I'm startled and amazed by this!
So, chew your food!
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 doubt you. Now go run a half-marathon, fatty.
my blog
For those total geeks who don't know what these are or how to do them, I googled and found this:
http://gymball.com/bridge_exercise.html
Hope this saves someone else from having to do the same Google.
~ roscivs
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.........
Try removing your wallet from you back pocket to alleviate back pain. I've heard it's a major cause of back pain because it causes you to sit on an angle, which is a problem with geeks who do a lot of sitting.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
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.
I've always hated exercise-for-exercise's-sake (think treadmills, stationary bikes and StairMasters here) and because of my hectic work schedule and a number of non-physical hobbies, it's rare occasion that I have the time to engage in recreational exercise.
In the past two years I've been putting on weight, and I'm NOT happy about it. So I've come up with the following workaround:
1) Buy an iPod
2) Load it up with good music, audio books, learn-a-language casettes, and other engaging activities
3) Go to gym; hop on cardio machine of choice; turn iPod up
4) Zone out as you exercise. Let the audio distract you; try to forget completely about the discomfort of working out, while still concentrating on the physical side of things (are we running fast enough, is our posture correct, etc).
It works surprisingly well. It's unbelievable how quickly 45 minutes can pass while I'm learning Arabic or reading Joe Haldeman in my head. And the best thing is, I've gotten to the point where I don't strictly *need* the iPod distraction in order to enjoy a workout. I've trained myself to tolerate the mild physical discomfort (sweat, tired muscles, et al) -- though I still enjoy the iPod.
Yes, I'm a big wimp. But at least I've got mental hacks to compensate for it!
I'm an older geek. I learned emacs in 1981, learned FORTRAN in 1972.
I have lived something like the typical geek lifestyle most of my life. I got fat. I got sick. My Dr. told me had to exercise... I hate gyms... Jocks bore me... I took ROTC in high school so I wouldn't have to deal with another coach. What was someone like me going to do for exercise?
I bought a stationary bike. I wore it out. I bought another one and wore it out at about the same time my Dr. told me to never ride a bike again because the damn seats pinch nerves and make you lose feeling in parts of your body you don't ever want numb... I next wore out a Nordic track machine. And then I wore out several pairs of walking shoes: all of those activities were boring as hell. It was like taking bad tasting medicine. I know it was good for me, but it was hard to make myself do it because it was so boring. At least I could listen to music and even read on the bikes.
I kept getting older and I kept fluctuating between being fat and not so fat as I overcame the boredom and exercised. I mean seriously, how many times can you walk down the same trail before it becomes so boring that it actually hurts to think about it?
Finally a friend talked me into taking a class at his Kung Fu school. The first words out of the instructors mouth were "Remember, there is no shame here." And there isn't. There are a variety of activities in each class. It is the hardest work out I ever imagined doing. The combined mental and physical challenge of learning forms is as much fun as solving a hard programming problem or learning a new system. Not to mention that I soon found that the majority of the students are geeks of some sort. Even the master of the school has a Ph.D in neuroscience. Then I started getting in to the internal side of Kung Fu, meditation and Chi Kung, and found more there than I believed was possible.
I started studying a martial art at age 50. My doctor said I was nuts but that it probably wouldn't kill me. Now he says he is amazed at the physical and mental changes he sees in me. I really believe that if you find a serious martial arts school, *not* one run by a bully show off or that is focused just on winning tournaments, you will find an activity that appeals to geeks the same way science and math appeal and for the same reasons. Even within the same style there are good schools and there are bad schools. The master makes the difference.
I never believed I would look forward to spending 2 or more hours at a time sweating so hard that puddles form around my feet when I take a break, but I do.
Stonewolf
P.S.
I am not claiming I am any good at Kung Fu. I am just saying that I love it and I am getting amazing benefits from it. Unlike some styles Kung Fu is appropriate for people of all ages.
I used to sit at my computer at home the way I've seen many folks sit at theirs: slouched down in a low-backed chair with your back at about a 40-70 degree angle and head upright (with nothing supporting it besides my neck) looking at the screen. I spent probably six or seven years doing that on a regular basis for hours on end with no apparent problems. At work I sat correctly in an ergonomic chair with everything set up properly, keyboard and monitor at the proper height and all that jazz. During this time I also did weight training and martial arts quite regularly, and I was quite healthy and rarely sick.
Then one day I realized I had a dull pain in my back, just between my left scapula and spine, that got a little worse when I moved my head certain ways. Thinking I'd just injured myself in one of my non-sedentary hobbies, I went to a chiropractor who managed to fix me up in about three or four weeks, and I was symptom-free again. Then the pain came back, and I went back to the chiro and got re-adjusted and felt fine, the pain came back again...and so on for a few months. Eventually I started feeling pain and tingling in my fingers and hands, and severe muscle cramps in my upper back. It also spread to both sides of my back.
I finally saw a doctor who referred me to an osteopath (D.O.) who gave me almost the same therapy (the manipulations felt identical, in all the same places, even though he claimed that osteopathy and chiropractic were quite different) as the chiropractor had with some acupuncture added in. Again he'd get me fixed up, and I'd relapse, and so on for another few months.
Oddly enough, even though they both told me that proper posture was the key to feeling better, it didn't sink in exactly what I was doing wrong the entire time. I figured that since I sat properly at an ergonomically-organized workstation at the office all day and had completely given up my strenuous hobbies that I couldn't be doing anything wrong.
It took weeks of googling before I finally found a concise, lucid explanation for what was going wrong: the way I'd been sitting at home (at the PC and the TV) was putting stress on my scalene muscles, which were helping to stabilize my head and neck in that position. Those muscles in turn are connected to the first two ribs at the top of the rib cage, and the first rib was being pulled slightly out of position by the over-developed and tense scalenes. It fit with what the osteopath had told me ("Your first rib is out of place") and the treatment I'd been getting the entire time. I just kept yanking everything back out again with an hour or so of video gaming or internet chatting while slouched and relaxing.
So, now I'm pursuing treatment with my chiro again since my insurance stopped paying for the osteopath (who was being billed as a physical therapist, even though he didn't seem to operate much differently from my chiropractor). I'm just hoping I didn't wise up too late to fix my back for good. I'm now sitting up straight at home, and I can definitely tell that the postural correction is what I needed. Although my back is still a bit sore, my symptoms aren't nearly as bad as they were at their worst; practically no tingling or pain in the arms and hands, and the muscle cramps aren't as bad, nor are they getting worse.
So kids, your parents were right, sitting up straight IS important, because you can cause very serious health problems with a few years of bad habits.
To help with your back problems, you could also try these two yoga positions (which are sort of the same thing):
The bridge
The wheel
The bridge requires a lot less strength than the wheel, but I feel the wheel does much more for the back. You can do an approximation of the wheel pose with one of those large workout balls. It helps my back a lot.
If you do start doing the wheel or bridge, I'd suggest alternating with something like the child pose just to even things out.
Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I'd always hoped for something better than that. -CP
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
Heheh, there's not enough in my wallet to matter...
-h-
use Bielefeld.pm
...read Perfect Vision without Glasses (now in the public domain) by William H. Bates. It works.
Right on! Just like that perpectual motion machine that I'm going to patent!
-h-
Before you go any further with the Bates Method, or suggest it to anybody else, you really need to see what Martin Gardner said about it in Fads and Fallicies in the Name of Science. It isn't pretty. In essence, the Bates Method relies on "accomadation," the ability of the eye to change its focus depending on what you're looking at, while denying its existance. About the best you can say about it is that it lets people brag that they don't need glasses, while walking around in a fuzzy world because they won't admit their vision isn't really clear.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Said health problems can be summed up so:
Nowhere does he say anything about couch potatoes, sedentary lifestyles, eating Cheez Doodles and drinking Mountain Dew, or any of the other things that people assume he's talking about because, as usual, they have not RTFA.
Breakfast served all day!
Try removing your wallet from you back pocket to alleviate back pain. I've heard it's a major cause of back pain because it causes you to sit on an angle, which is a problem with geeks who do a lot of sitting.
If your wallet is messing up your posture, I'll be happy to hold those funny bits of green paper for you.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
Editor of Carotids.com Here. Sorry that dreamhost is having problems handling the traffic. We bought a dedicated server for tech-recipes.com and then carotids gets slashdotted. Bad guess on our part. :)
Here's a cut and paste of the article. Sorry for the server problems:
Dr. AA06:33 am46 comments Edit This
I am a currently practicing board-certified Internal Medicine physician in a large rapidly expanding tech-growth community. (Ed note: Verified) Our area is rapidly being filled with web development, IT, and biotechnology companies. As a doctor in this area over the last few years, I have discovered some unique health problems associated with this population. One of my patients pointed me to this site when I was discussing with her if computer use causes carpal tunnel syndrome.
I have noticed several repeating patterns in this geek lifestyle population.
I have always wanted to post my observations regarding the geek lifestyle. I affectionately call it the "geek lifestyle" because of my previous life of programming and web design. One of the best part of my job is getting to live vicariously through these young energetic people. I frequently wonder what would have happened to me if I would have stayed with my tech-life instead of transitioning to medicine.
Personal points aside, I have noticed several repeating patterns in this geek lifestyle population. Hopefully, these ideas will spark others to study this unique population.
#1 Horrible Sleep Hygiene
Insomnia and altered sleep patterns is one of the most common complaints to my office. Frequently the complaint is of light sleep or of multiple awakening throughout the night. Although this can be a symptom of depression, this is typically caused by poor sleep habits. It typically starts with somebody waking up in the middle of the night and turning on the laptop or TV. This begins to happen more and more frequently until the patient starts to worry about waking up as soon as they go to bed at night. This stress makes the sleep worse and worse until they finally come to see me.
The bed should only be used for two things-sex and sleep.
The fix is typically easy if the habit is not too ingrained. The bed should only be used for two things-sex and sleep. If one is awake in bed for more than 10-15 minutes, one should get up and do something non-stimulating. Listening to music or reading are excellent choices. Lying in bed and watching TV or using the laptop are the worst. These stimulate the brain to wake up even more. If this happens repeatedly, the habit will be formed.
A few of my patients have tried "sleep hacking" and it almost always fails. The dangers of hacking sleep have been explored by a physician elsewhere.
#2 Headaches
Poor screen position, too small font, screen too bright/too dark, poor sitting posture are all commonly reported causes of chronic headache.
Recurrent headaches are a very frequent complaint among heavy computer users. Typically these are caused by a multitude of issues regarding computer use. If they occur the same time every day or if they do not appear on non-work days, these are the clues that point me to a computer cause.
Often when I tell my patients that I suspect it is their work environment, they come back and tell me me how they fixed it. Poor screen position, too small font, screen too bright/too dark, poor sitting posture are all commonly reported causes of chronic headache. When in doubt, I just tell them to trade offices for a couple of days. If they feel better in the other office, then it suggests that it is related to their personal work environment.
Poor eyesight is frequently believed to be a cause of chronic headaches although I believe that is very overrated. What I have seen a few times is that people with glasses having too strong of a prescription. Type-A people when getting refracted for glasses will mistakenly report that higher and higher powers make them
Since college, I have gained some weight to the point where I was not happy with myself. Not massive, but to the point where it limited some of the things I did and for how long before being completely winded or tired. My wife and I (she really exists) bought a fancy smancy scale to tell help us keep track of progress and we started a journey together. She works with Weight Watches and I have been keeping track of my progress at https://www.presidentschallenge.org/login/index.as px I know how much everyone likes Pres Bush and all, but this site is handy for keeping track of progress.
Anyways, for me it was just making time to get out and exercise. Walk your freaking dog people!! Don't have a dog; go on a walk with your girlfriend/wife. Don't have a significant other; then go out by yourself. Just exercise. Takes about 30 mins 5 times a week. Don't have to get super fit or anything, just start working on it. For me, I have been doing my exercise about 4 weeks now and have lost about 10 pounds, but the important part is that I sleep better, am more productive at work, have more energy in general and love life more. Take the challenge. Exercise consistently for a month and see if you can tell a difference in weight and energy levels in your life. If you are happy with it, then continue. If not, then see your doctor and work out a plan. We are not doomed to a life of unhealthy habits and choices.
I've long considered myself both a nerd and a jock. I was glued to AD&D source books and frantically backstabbing in many a MUD at the same time that I was playing four sports in high school. In the same way that I had a deep love for a wide array of academic topics - literature and history in particular, with dashes of science thrown in for good measure - I found that playing a different sport every three months (football in the fall, wrestling in the winter and track and field in the spring) as well as a year and life long commitment to hockey all made my life a little better.
I'm proud of being a nerd and hopeful that one day we can continue the peace process [theonion.com], and one reason I don't mind being called such affectionately is that being a nerd also means you're not exactly hung up on what others think of you or of what you should be doing. Ultimately, to me, that's always meant that the things I enjoy - whether it's reading slashdot, watching college football, laughing at WoW stamina jokes even though I've never played, playing hockey, contributing to wikipedia, etc. - are not mutually exclusive even though in some quarters they might be considered so.
Does being interested in open source make me any less of an athlete? Does being able to bench press 315 pounds make me any less a nerd? Does my posing hypothetical questions in this manner affect a butterfly's ability in Rhodesia to affect weather patterns in Salem, Oregon? I think the answer to all those questions are the same, though the cheeky amongst you will probably have a different one than me.
To me being a nerd is about not placing too much importance in what others may think of you and your lifestyle, and that's always implied a highly analytical approach to life and the optimum and most efficient avenues of existence. All my best friends are nerds who can play some mean puck. One is, quite literally, a rocket scientist. Another is studying to become a vet. Those who are smart realize that physical activity is conductive to and a part of excellent mental acuity. This idea of nerds being pocket protector wearing, weak limbed, pasty faced slobs has never held a place in my world. We approach our physical health the same way we do our mental well being: efficiently, and with the question of "How best to optimize my existence so that I may continue doing the things I love?"
It just so happens that for us, exercising embiggens our ability to play hockey, to drink, to drink while playing table hockey and to think clearly about how to alleviate/avoid hangovers so we can plan our next hockey/drinking/drinking hockey escapade with the highest level of operability.
Finally, the nerds I know who exercise (and there are a lot) approach it with an almost maniacal determination to get it exactly right. They're the guys who know at what intervals they should be hitting their sets, who have graphically tracked their heart rates and their maxes and exactly what days that spinning class is offered. And they definitely don't wear some of the ridiculous outfits I've seen on some of the more "health conscious" individuals at the 24 Hour Fitness on Sunset Boulevard and Vine; the term "functional clothing" has probably never entered those people's minds.
My nerd life is healthy as can be, thank you. In fact, thanks to this nagging shoulder injury acquired from completely crushing my buddy during a pick up game of hockey, I could probably use a little more nerd and a little less jock right now. But that doesn't mean I won't pretend I'm paying attention in yoga - I've deduced it's the best way to stretch and get a great view of the female fauna so long as you're positioned optimally. Mirrors + understanding of angles of incidence and reflection = crazy delicious.
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.
The L.A. Times just ran an article about those who mountain bike in the dark to accomodate a busy life. I ride with the featured club twice a week and even though a geek and someone who grew up with asthma, my cardio capability has increased many-fold in the two years since adopting this practice. And when I come back to work the next day after a ride, I feel more flexible and have much much less back, neck, and shoulder stiffness/pain/headaches.
So although I work for a high-pressure "full commitment"-type IT job in this company (200 desktops in five locations on both coasts and two contries and an IT staff of "me" for everything from desktop support to network to web app programming), I can jet out of work at 5pm, catch an evening ride and come back at the perfect time to do server/network or some "leave me alone and let me write code" work.
That's it. Take in (a few) less calories, and burn (a few) more. No deprivation, no hardship, no math. And it works. Make your net change a whopping 250 calories a day (less than 2 cans of soda) and you'll lose 25 pounds over the course of a year. Do more, and lose faster - just don't do too much so that you feel like its a pain. And yeah, it may take a year or more (depending on your activities and how much you have to lose), but think about it - if you're heavy, a year from now wouldn't you rather be lighter? You're going to be a year older either way, so its not like it really costs you much to lose the bulk...
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
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.
Various manufacturers make goggles with optical correction, usually available in whole and half-diopter increments. I got some reasonably close to my prescription for $20 and am quite impressed with my vision, especially underwater. They're also handy in duststorms, and when welding/grinding/drilling above my head.
Now I can navigate from the locker room to the pool without glasses, and avoid obstacles while swimming. Plus my eyes don't burn from chlorine.
Man, you really need that seminar!
I was approaching 200 pounds and resolved to reverse that trend, so I started running on the treadmill at work, got to 4 miles a day. The problem is, it's deadly dull even with music, and then I got a stress fracture in my shin and had to stop for a while.
So I bought a decent bike and started commuting 21 miles round trip a day. It's now my favorite part of the day, I get about 70 minutes a day to de-stress and to do my creative thinking that I normally only had a 5 minute shower a day to do it in.
I find I get a (perhaps perverse) sense of pleasure in riding in all kinds of weather; below-zero (F) temps, 40-MPH headwinds, rain storms, whatever. If you're well equipped (rain gear and lighting) it's great fun. The first year it's tough to keep motivated, but once I got in shape, I found that on the days that I drove, I ALWAYS wished I would have ridden instead, and I NEVER wished I'd driven when I rode in. Now I simply don't drive unless I absolutely have to.
I get to work, and back home again, feeling like superman and ready to do anything. Also as an environmentalist I like the fact that every day I ride I kick out 20 pounds less CO2 into the atmosphere.
At 42 after 2 years of riding I'm in better shape than I ever have been. I hope to continue riding daily until I'm physically unable to anymore, which could be a long time since people who keep up that level of activity often continue to ride into their 80's and 90's; regular aerobic exercise is better than anything else to make you feel great and not wind up a drooling wreck in a rest home at 70.
I got tired of the large phone books I get each year cluttering up my shelf space. Rather than throw three of them away, I stacked them atop one another, interlocking the first/last half inch or so of pages between them. Voila...an instant stepper. It's really not hard to push your chair out of the way and step for 10-30 minutes at a time - and you can really get your pulse elevated doing it. Just be wary of the occasional misstep - it's not as sturdy as a manufactured step, but used with a bit of attention, it's still very effective.
So write a coumtry song about your achy-breaky wrists, make a bundle and retire to raise ponies. OMG! PONIES!!!!
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"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"
I think that is a bit of a self flattering comment. There is a difference between programming a lanuage you know everyday and sitting learning a new one. The last time I had to sit through a three day Perl course (not that there was anything wrong with the course) I felt pretty bloody knakered by halfway through each day......
If you get off your arse and do a bit of excercise you will probably feel more motivated when you do sit down in front of the computer. (Or am I not really much of a geek?)