Reversing the effects of long programming sessions

There is a direct relation between productivity and having a life put together. Not taking care of ourselves (programmers) could have lead to disaster: mental disorders, burnout, leaving a well payed job, etc.

Lately I've stop giving a damn about deadlines like I used to. Money is nice but mental health does not has a price. The moment you enter the rabbit hole of antidepressants you're already ripping your soul.

I've tried doing many things after a long session.. for me, the only remedy I've found is time. I just need a few hours.

I also produce music. This doesn't help because producing is very similar to programming in many ways. Puts me right back in the same state.

Having three+ drinks certainly helps... but not healthy nor sustainable on a daily basis.

There is this constant thing in the back of my mind, that I need to improve. I stopped watching movies, stopping playing Dota (had played it 2000+ hours in total), stopped playing any musical instruments...

Day in and day out, I feel like the time I am spending not learning anything is a going to waste. I need to be productive everytime (atleast feel like being productive).

Even on youtube, I try to only watch technical talks as much as possible. If I stray away, for instance watch a VICE documentary, then I feel miserable as I just spent 45 minutes doing nothing.

Technically, I can see that I am improving. But when will this stop ? There are 15 year old kids who know more than me currently, then I will ever learn/know.

One would assume that, with this kind of daily life, one would be lot better "intellectually" or in some other sense. But I can assure you, I might be only slightly above average, but thats it. There is this constant thing inside me, that I am only slightly above average, not the best in anything.

The more I know, the more I find what I don't know. I guess it stems from the Dunning–Kruger effect.

But how do I deal with this ?

Take a break every hour or so, minimum ten minutes, and step away. Make coffee, ponder the infinite, pet your cat, listen to some Chicago or Slayer, whatever suits your preferences.

It would take 3-4 hours once home at our set stop time to "shut off" our brains from thinking about what we were working on - and switch over to "being home" mode and interacting with spouses etc. without being irritable.

We also all had disturbed sleep from "programming dreams" once we could shut our brains down and actually fall asleep.

This is nothing new, I know - but it was intriguing (and frightening) to see these effects manifested consistently across our entire team.

What? I've never known anybody that could do that! Anyone that can do that meaningfully must be some kind of savant.

They should add:

- Weed - Drinking - Porn

There is no way I could play video games.

- Exercise

I can see all but video games and watching TV, where again you sit in front of a screen. Doesn’t help me. Instead, I’d add hiking in the hills, forest, mountains, being outside in nature in general. Nothing is more re-energizing for me than that.

I found that doing Brazilian Jujitsu really helps with this; two or three minutes into a session and all other concerns are gone and the relaxation afterwards is great - the world takes a while to come flooding back.

I think TV and video games are a dodgy recommendation in that it's just more time in front of screens - itself not great. Unless you have a pretty wacky working environment you're sitting down or at best at a standing desk. So adding more sedentary activities as a way from unwinding from other sedentary activities is pretty questionable. Not everyone is going to love something as full-on as BJJ but surely 'go for a walk' should be way ahead of 'more screen stuff'.