Health Problems Related to the Geek Lifestyle 495
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?'"
If there's nothing to see, try moving along. (Score:5, Funny)
Please move along at least every hour or two before you add deep vein thrombosis [wikipedia.org] to your list of troubles.
From TFA: (Score:5, Funny)
Or, in the case of geeks, one thing.
Re:From TFA: (Score:5, Funny)
Or, in the case of geeks, one thing.
Then where is the geek supposed to sleep?
Re:From TFA: (Score:5, Funny)
At the keyboard. Get an ergonomic split keyboard so your nose can rest on the split between the two halfs of the keyboard so your face can avoid touching the keys. Otherwise, you will wake up with "QWERTY" stamped on your forehead from a regular keyboard.
Re:From TFA: (Score:3, Informative)
Sleep? Haven't you heard of coffee?
Re:From TFA: (Score:2)
Right (Score:2)
lol (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:lol (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:lol (Score:3, Informative)
Re:lol (Score:4, Insightful)
To add to this.
The bloated rolling non-sporty geek is an American phenomenon.
In all my years of working in EU I have never had more than 2-3% of these in the company. In fact the IT industry in most EU countries is generally more healthy than the remaining population.
I am one of the least sporty individuals in my company (which is a typical UK telecoms/IT shop) and I always walk for at least 20 minutes at lunch, cycle for 3 miles a day with a 4 year old on a tag-along whenever the weather allows (picking him up from the nursery is a perfect excuse for some exercise). On top of that I try to do at least 1 hour basketball or 1 hour swimming per week.
That does not prevent me from doing design work, coding and a bit of sysadmin here and there.
To summarize - geek lifestyle is whatever you make it. Being a rolling ball of fat does not make you a geek. Being a athelete does not exclude you from being a geek. At least outside US.
Eat your cake and burn the calories, too. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Eat your cake and burn the calories, too. (Score:4, Funny)
My god. The first time I read that, I thought, "Now what would Quick Basic have to do with football?"
*sob*
Re:Eat your cake and burn the calories, too. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the American God Complex at work. Americans need to feel like a God, and therefore they spend unhealthy amounts of time at that which they are good at and nothing else. The only way the stereotypical Comic. Book. Guy. can fulfil that god complex is to specialize in an esoteric pastime, detracting from physical as well as social health. The whole ancient greek concept of the Balanced Person is lost on the American society. We are reared to
Re:lol (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
[/blockquote]
The least surprising thing is the hilarious justification of, "We're just too darn smart to exercise'.
Geek lifestyle leaves no time for exercise? There seems to be plenty of time for jacking off and playing video games. Just get off your ass.
If you need to multi-task while you exercise because that's how your brain works, do a sport instead of just exercise. There are plenty of purely recreational leagues everywhere. (Often called beer leagues, which is just about the best part of it)
I recommend baseball for the beginner geek because it is the least stressful as a sport and offers a nice transition. It is also chock full of numbers a geek can spend his day calculating, and believe me your team will appreciate even a novice statistician.
For the intermediate geek I recommend Soccer or a racket sport(even ping pong!), but those don't offer any numbers to fuck around with.
Hockey I recommend for the geek looking move up in sports difficulty, and hockey offers the most variables. Not to mention that Ice Hockey allows you to get a decent workout without sweating. (If you go crazy nuts you'll sweat plenty, but it's very easy to keep your heart rate in its optimal zone without getting too sweaty to go to work.)
Hockey gear is expensive but you can find recreational games without more than leg pads.
It'll also help the geek tendency to be a fucking social troll and retard.
(beer league baseball/softball is by far the best way to go from zero exercise to building healthy habits. Working out is way more fun when you're drunk, just like most things.)
Re:A little suggestion (Score:3, Informative)
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
Re:lol (Score:3, Insightful)
I was an olympic hopeful for fencing - I hope one day to pick it up again but being confined to a wheelchair kind of prevents that lol
And I, like you, used to put my physical training time to good use mentally as well.
Are there geeks out there that don't get enough excercise? Oh yeah. Is it everyone? no. Is it a majority?
Ummm... probably?
getting excercise is not that tough.... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:getting excercise is not that tough.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Geeks are just another subset of the populace that stops engaging in any kind of physical activity once they get out of mandatory athletics in middle/highschool.
You didn't have mandatory athletics?
Bastard..
But the point remains that large numbers of 'adults' don't excercise, or even worse, they pay for a gym membership and don't go. Only two or three of my friends regularly exercise. The rest just eat right.
Re:getting excercise is not that tough.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Exactly. I fail to see how spending 20 minutes a day either running or lifting heavy crap over my head somehow makes me less intelligent. Nice try. If you aren't working out on a regular basis you are either ignorant as to the many benefits of physical fitness, or you are extremely poor at managing your time.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:getting excercise is not that tough.... (Score:2)
Whatever. (Score:2, Insightful)
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 c
Re:Whatever. (Score:2)
Re:Whatever. (Score:2)
Re:Whatever. (Score:2)
There's plenty of clinical evidence that shows that getting in shape can require 20 minutes a day (or less). Don't even try tell me that you can't cough up 20 minutes a day for an activity is likely to increase both the length and quality of your life. Heck, you can make serious improvement with 4 minutes of Tabata Intervals a few times a week. That's a 20 second maximal sprint followed by 10 seconds rest repeated 8 times. Of course, it will probably take at least a half hour to recover from this workou
Re:Whatever. (Score:2)
I'm with you
At the last place I worked at, the my team looked more like bouncers than developers. We had a physical training instructor, two international sportsmen, a semi-professional motorcycle racer and an ex-gymnast. Average weight of about 200 pounds and average body fat about 9-10%. That was obviously a little unusual but it certainly puts paid to the stereotype of skinny geeks.
Disappointingly, the CTO was the archetypal nerd; arriving at 11am and working until early in the morning with the physiqu
Re:Whatever. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Whatever. (Score:3, Funny)
A bit offtopic, but that line has all the makings of a hilarious country song ;-)
Re:Whatever. (Score:2)
Not to mention which it's wrong. Coding, in my experience, requires the sort of single-minded focus that the article claims geeks don't have.
Re:Whatever. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Whatever. (Score:4, Funny)
I actually just like to take out my Jump to Conclusions Mat (patent pending) every once and awhile. It's part of my physical fitness regimen.
Surgeon General's Warning (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Surgeon General's Warning (Score:2)
You must be new around here. The odds of a woman reading Slashdot is only about 1 in 100 as it is, but the odds that they've had sex too is even slimmer.
Unless you're referring to the "Slashdot effect" as the effect a geek has on a woman, and in that case there's almost a 0% chance they'd end up nursing or pregnant from said geek.
What about the benefits?? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What about the benefits?? (Score:2)
No, geeks are lazy... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No, geeks are lazy... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes they would still exercise but I would bet the longer they are tied up the less exercise they will do until eventually they are doing none at all. I've seen this happen many times. It happened to me. I used to play soccer and basketball. Believe it or not it takes a lot of energy to devote yourself to any task. I have a lot of friends in med-school, th
Re:No, geeks are lazy... (Score:3, Informative)
Umm, what about athletic geeks?
Some of us are geeks, but also love being in good shape - the two need not be mutually exclusive as you make it out to be, you know?
Re:No, geeks are lazy... (Score:5, Funny)
Only a nerd would draw a distinction.
The Sun (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The Sun (Score:3, Funny)
Getting better, we hope (Score:2)
However, I do know quite a number of people (if you count IRC and forums, heh) that make a point to try to avoid some of pitfalls- exercise, proper diet, taking breaks from the computer/video game/etc.
I don't think this is as bad as the 'classic' nerd stereotype of the 1970s and 1980s, but i'm sure we've all got room to improve.
ride your bike to work (Score:2)
Seriously, do people here feel they have to be out of shape and socially awkward to be good with technology?
Then again, a couple of weeks ago I met a dancer (yes, female!) while carting home a laser printer from the street. Maybe its not fair to compare myself to other geeks.
I think most geeks would be amazed (Score:3, Interesting)
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/ [runfatboy.net] -- Exercise for the rest of us.
The worst health problem of all.... (Score:2, Funny)
Balance, it's all about Balance (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Balance, it's all about Balance (Score:3, Informative)
Anyway, I ran across this article about procrastination [calpoly.edu] yesterday which I think sort of relates to what you're saying. You don't seem to suffer from the problem, but I'm posting the link here since someone looking for help and reading what you wrote may also find it insightful.
Re:Balance, it's all about Balance (Score:3, Funny)
Look at it this way... if you read the article immediately, you can put off what you're doing right now! It's a win-win.
Re:Balance, it's all about Balance (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Balance, it's all about Balance (Score:3, Insightful)
If I do one thing at a time it gets done faster, and with better results than if I try to multitask.
This is quite true. Multiple studies have shown that every context switch takes you 15 to 60 minutes to return to full productivity (depending on the focus required for the task), with a complete loss of about 50% of that time.
Most geeks who think they're great at multi-tasking should try focusing deeply on one problem some time. Their productivity would skyrocket
O' Rly? (Score:2, Interesting)
Multitask?!?! (Score:2)
We have now decided that concentrating on one task as much as possible not only gets it done faster and with less errors but usually takes much less time than adding it to the multi-scheme.
We also came to realize when one multitasks we tend to forget a thing or two in the mix of multitasking.
Servers need exercise too! (Score:2)
Whacked out after just a few comments. No doubt a cardiac arrest team is applying electro-shocks to its chest this very minute, and it is regretting taking the lift every day instead of the stairs to the server room.
Seriously though, it's been a long cold winter where I am and I was starting to notice that the lack of outdoor activity, combined with too much computer time, is starting to eat in to whatever health karma I established when I was younger. Now the snow and ice has gone I've started cycl
Wait, so let me get this straight.... (Score:5, Funny)
Shenanigans on #4 (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Since we're discussing geeks and health... (Score:3, Interesting)
Simple Diet (Score:3, Informative)
Get a gym membership... (Score:2)
Multitask / one task? (Score:5, Insightful)
Tell me when (Score:2)
I don't think that's a way to keep your job for a long time.
Yes, it's yet another excuse to NOT run around and leave a trail of salty droplets on the road. But simply saying "gotta exercise more" isn't gonna cut it.
'sides, show me a geek tha
Re:Tell me when (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)
This guy needs to get out more (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:This guy needs to get out more (Score:3, Interesting)
Suggestion for sleep problems (Score:2)
For example last night, I tried to work out whether it was better to generate a thread in a threaded comments system (like slashdots) mainly in the data access layer or whether to order the comments in the applications layer. Doing it in the data access layer could be neat, but then if you did it in the ap
You're drawn to what you are good at (Score:2)
pr0n (Score:2)
i for one wish i'd never seen any pr0n
Ways to fool the brain (Score:3, Interesting)
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 can relate... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Poor posture can be a SERIOUS problem (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [teamdoctors.org] 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.
you can be a geek and healthy (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Mutlitasking and running a mile are not comparable (Score:3, Insightful)
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...
multitask?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Bicycle commuting works for me (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:What a surprise... (Score:2)
Seriously though, I would love to walk or bike to work, but I live in central Texas, and the combination of heat, humidity, and the lack of shower facilities at the office make such a thing problematic at best.
Companies that employ sedentary workers should have facilities or programs to encourage fitness, but few do. A place I used to work for had a gym and shower facilities on-site, but in my experience that's the exception rather than the norm.
Re:hihihi (Score:2)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:2)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:4, Interesting)
The bridge [about.com]
The wheel [about.com]
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 [about.com] pose just to even things out.
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Informative)
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
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:4, Funny)
-h-
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Funny)
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.
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Funny)
So write a coumtry song about your achy-breaky wrists, make a bundle and retire to raise ponies. OMG! PONIES!!!!
optical goggles (Score:3, Informative)
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 fr
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:5, Interesting)
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!
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Interesting)
Right on! [quackwatch.org] Just like that perpectual motion machine that I'm going to patent!
-h-
Re:Sounds mostly familiar (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So get up! (Score:2)
Re:So get up! (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:This is insulting (Score:3, Funny)
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" i
Re:This is insulting (Score:3, Funny)
I doubt you. Now go run a half-marathon, fatty.
Re:This is insulting (Score:5, Insightful)
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.