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Comment by vmoore | Hacker News Reader

I never liked the seated, sedentary nature of programming. Over time though, I've forced myself to take regular breaks, say every 10 minutes to straighten out my spine, and every 60 mins I go for a longish walk to clear my head and repair my back. Any hard problems or puzzles I encountered usually get solved when walking, as my brain is in a different state and can problem-solve better.

There are ergonomic items you can buy for a home-lab situation or maybe the office splurged out on Herman Miller chairs, but no amount of ergonomic items (Vertical Mouse etc) will solve the sitting down problem. You have to do pattern interrupts and frequent (reparative) breaks.

This is known to increase productivity. If you're in your twenties you can probably get away with long sessions sitting down without major issues, but over time, sitting /will/ affect you if you're not doing interrupts and exercising/repairing yourself.

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I've started doing this every time I complete a problem and close the browser windows or if I'm stuck.

I find that if I continue to sit after this it's often when the procrastination kicks in because I'm not sure what to do next.

Whereas if I start walking it kicks my brain into deciding what to do next or solving the problem I'm stuck on.

> There are ergonomic items you can buy for a home-lab situation or maybe the office splurged out on Herman Miller chairs

I got a nice condition used Steelcase Leap v1 several months ago for about $120 and that thing has been an absolute godsend. Excellent for the back, adjusting the armrests to relieve pressure from shoulders, seat tilt, I can barely sit in other chairs for prolonged periods now lol

What do you do, when you straighten out your spine? I mean in terms of movement, or do you just change your posture?

Basic yoga moves are fantastic for this.

Sun salutations with downward and upward dog. They also strengthen your core.

There are more moves in the Ashtanga sequence, whenever I do it I get a feeling of my discs being stretched and exercised like a rubber ball.

Stuart McGill recommends periodically standing and stretching your arms over your head a couple times. You can see the motion demonstrated here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bcbuhePZZj0&t=459s

He also recommended doing the cat-cow from yoga, and there's a set of exercises referred to as the McGill big 3.

I've seen some positive references to the McKenzie method book, Treat Your Own Back. I haven't tried it specifically, but had good luck with their equivalent book for neck treatment.

One of the best back stretches that I've found is hanging from a pull-up bar (wall-mounted, removable door frame bar, power rack).

The recent version of Stretching[0] also has computer-specific stretches in it. I was recommended this book by a physical therapist and it's great.

[0]https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/561546

Not the original commenter, but I've started doing basic piriformis stretches. Even just the first one on this list has noticeably helped my back/sciatica pain.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/piriformis-syndrome-stret...

I've added it as a goal in the Finch app, so I get a little dopamine reward when I do it.

Plus owning a dog helps too, getting regular exercise even if it's just walking.

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