Let’s talk about something we often push to the backburner: our health. We spend most of our days in front of a screen, deep in code, and it’s easy to forget that our bodies and minds need some attention too.
I’d love to hear how the community approaches this especially those of you working remotely, since the line between “work mode” and “life mode” gets pretty blurry when your office is also your home.
A few things I’m curious about:
Movement & Exercise Do you have a workout routine, or do you sneak in activity throughout the day? Standing desk? Walks between PRs?
Nutrition Coding sessions and snacking go hand in hand for a lot of us. Do you meal prep, track what you eat, or just try to stay away from the endless coffee-and-chips combo?
Sleep Late-night debugging sessions are a classic, but how do you protect your sleep? Any habits or boundaries that actually work?
Stress & Mental Health Deadlines, production bugs, context switching… it adds up. How do you decompress? Meditation, hobbies, therapy, just long walks?
Does Your Company Actually Help? Curious about this one too does your employer do anything to support your health? Things like:
Wellness allowances you can spend however you need
Flexible hours so you can actually take a lunch break or go for a walk
Or is it mostly just “we have health insurance, good luck”? Would love to know what’s out there it might inspire some of us to advocate for better perks at our own companies.
I admit that I don’t have an especially healthy routine, but the routine I have comes from my being a parent of a toddler and a baby:
I don’t work long hours, because I’m needed before and after work.
My toddler can’t sleep alone, so I sleep next to him. (Meaning, no late-night work.)
Most of my physical exercise comes from playing with the kids before and after work. I keep hoping that once they’re older I’ll have more time for an exercise routine. Maybe that’s wishful thinking I used to take 15 minutes out of my workday to do body weight exercises right by my desk. I should go back to doing that.
For my mental health, having some time to myself each day is important. I wake up about an hour before the toddler does, and in that hour I try to something restful.
A few times I’ve been in a tough place mentally, and therapy helped in those times. (And I’m glad I have health insurance through work that paid for that.)
My current job is fairly flexible when it comes to work hours. I take a long lunch break every day to take my toddler on his “nap walk”, and then I get off work a little later to make up for it, but the hours aren’t exact and that’s fine as long as I’m getting my work done.
Bottom line: life as a parent is chaos, and I’m glad I work at a company that is OK with that.
Would love to know what’s out there it might inspire some of us to advocate for better perks at our own companies.
