I completely agree with this. Anecdotally from my own experiences. About a year ago, I decided it was time to be in shape again, lose some pounds, feel better, all that. So I went to the gym regularly, went for runs, bike rides etc, went dancing on the weekends. Nothing super heavy, just a lot of solid activity. About 2 months ago, I sort of fell off the wagon because I let work get in the way (then laziness crept in a bit too). So I am currently well versed in the whole gamut of exercise benefits (and non-exercise drawbacks). They directly relate to programming too! Not exercising is correlated with:
- Not sleeping well
- Feeling anxious more frequently
- Lack of focus
- Lack of motivation
- More difficulty following complex problem/solutions
- General irritability
After this next deadline in a week, I'm renewing my commitment to exercise and putting it in the non-negotiable list of things to do everyday.
For the last 7 months I have been completely focused on a project and have been neglecting exercise to a point where it feels like it has become a slog.
Some may say it's burnout, but I am not losing interest -- everything just feels like it has slowed down. Code that I should write quickly is taking longer.
I know it's marathon, not a sprint, but if you don't keep your body in shape that marathon can take longer than it should. So this week I have committed to focus on exercising and getting my energy levels back up.
Comments
I completely agree with this. Anecdotally from my own experiences. About a year ago, I decided it was time to be in shape again, lose some pounds, feel better, all that. So I went to the gym regularly, went for runs, bike rides etc, went dancing on the weekends. Nothing super heavy, just a lot of solid activity. About 2 months ago, I sort of fell off the wagon because I let work get in the way (then laziness crept in a bit too). So I am currently well versed in the whole gamut of exercise benefits (and non-exercise drawbacks). They directly relate to programming too! Not exercising is correlated with:
- Not sleeping well
- Feeling anxious more frequently
- Lack of focus
- Lack of motivation
- More difficulty following complex problem/solutions
- General irritability
After this next deadline in a week, I'm renewing my commitment to exercise and putting it in the non-negotiable list of things to do everyday.
For the last 7 months I have been completely focused on a project and have been neglecting exercise to a point where it feels like it has become a slog.
Some may say it's burnout, but I am not losing interest -- everything just feels like it has slowed down. Code that I should write quickly is taking longer.
I know it's marathon, not a sprint, but if you don't keep your body in shape that marathon can take longer than it should. So this week I have committed to focus on exercising and getting my energy levels back up.
"After this next deadline in a week, I'm renewing..."
Only in a week?
I guess you didn't really learn your lesson yet.
Exercise improves your productivity immediately (same day). There is no point to wait for another week.