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The Healthy Programmer
To keep doing what you love, you need to maintain your own systems, not just the ones you write code for. Regular exercise and proper nutrition help you learn, remember, concentrate, and be creative¡ªskills critical to doing your job well. Learn how to change your work habits, master exercises that make working at a computer more comfortable, and develop a plan to keep fit, healthy, and sharp for years to come.
This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own healthcare provider including Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Registered Dietician, and other licensed professionals.
This book is intended only as an informative guide for those wishing to know more about health issues. In no way is this book intended to replace, countermand, or conflict with the advice given to you by your own healthcare provider including Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Registered Dietician, and other licensed professionals.
254 pages, ebook
First published January 9, 2013
78 people are currently reading
885 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
December 28, 2013
The book consists of mostly basic advice, that's common knowledge, but overall I enjoyed it. It's nice to have all the basics of a healthy lifestyle collected in a single resource. The book could have easily been named "The Healthy Office Worker" (since nothing in it is specific to programmers) but I'm glad it wasn't - otherwise I probably wouldn't have come across it. :-)
May 18, 2017
Sometimes I¡¯m late for some of the most important events in my life. Hopefully, health is not the issue that I¡¯ve missed. Self-awareness and consciousness have always been a nice thing to have under your belt.
This book helps to improve those skills by giving you a nice reference for all the good things you need to be aware of that might either help you to advance or suffer as a human being.
This book is nothing more than a composition of blog posts, though it gives your a nice system as a set of goals you can follow along with a companion mobile app. In my opinion, it¡¯s much nicer to have good ideas under one cover than scattered around the Internet.
My score 4/5 due to how actual this topic is for myself
This book helps to improve those skills by giving you a nice reference for all the good things you need to be aware of that might either help you to advance or suffer as a human being.
This book is nothing more than a composition of blog posts, though it gives your a nice system as a set of goals you can follow along with a companion mobile app. In my opinion, it¡¯s much nicer to have good ideas under one cover than scattered around the Internet.
My score 4/5 due to how actual this topic is for myself
May 19, 2017
Kniha, navzdory sv¨¦mu n¨¢zvu, je ur?en¨¢ v?em lidem, co maj¨ª sedav¨¦ zam¨§stn¨¢n¨ª a cht¨§j¨ª vy?e?it probl¨¦my z n¨§j plynouc¨ª nebo jim p?edch¨¢zet.
Prob¨ªr¨¢ r?zn¨¦ m?ty, kter¨¦ mezi lidmi koluj¨ª a rozporuje je na z¨¢klad¨§ v¨§deck?ch studi¨ª. Vol¨ª tak¨¦ zaj¨ªmav¨¦ metodick¨¦ postupy, kter¨¦ lid¨¦ z bran?e mohou zn¨¢t z projektov¨¦ho ?¨ªzen¨ª nebo samotn¨¦ho p?¨ªstupu k tvorb¨§ k¨®du. Rozhodn¨§ se sezn¨¢m¨ªte s technikami jako je Kanban, Kaizen, Pomodoro, Unit testing, Refactoring a Retrospektiva. Uvid¨ªte, ?e jde o obecn¨¦ techniky aplikovateln¨¦ nejen na v?voj a ¨²dr?bu software, ale i na fitness a ment¨¢ln¨ª zdrav¨ª.
Pokud si chcete odn¨¦st jednu v¨§c z knihy. H?bejte se. Sna?te se ?asto chodit. 250 krok? za hodinu nen¨ª moc, ale sta?¨ª to k tomu, abyste byli zdrav¨§j?¨ª. B¨§?et jednou za ?as velkou vzd¨¢lenost nesta?¨ª.
Prob¨ªr¨¢ r?zn¨¦ m?ty, kter¨¦ mezi lidmi koluj¨ª a rozporuje je na z¨¢klad¨§ v¨§deck?ch studi¨ª. Vol¨ª tak¨¦ zaj¨ªmav¨¦ metodick¨¦ postupy, kter¨¦ lid¨¦ z bran?e mohou zn¨¢t z projektov¨¦ho ?¨ªzen¨ª nebo samotn¨¦ho p?¨ªstupu k tvorb¨§ k¨®du. Rozhodn¨§ se sezn¨¢m¨ªte s technikami jako je Kanban, Kaizen, Pomodoro, Unit testing, Refactoring a Retrospektiva. Uvid¨ªte, ?e jde o obecn¨¦ techniky aplikovateln¨¦ nejen na v?voj a ¨²dr?bu software, ale i na fitness a ment¨¢ln¨ª zdrav¨ª.
Pokud si chcete odn¨¦st jednu v¨§c z knihy. H?bejte se. Sna?te se ?asto chodit. 250 krok? za hodinu nen¨ª moc, ale sta?¨ª to k tomu, abyste byli zdrav¨§j?¨ª. B¨§?et jednou za ?as velkou vzd¨¢lenost nesta?¨ª.
April 12, 2018
Good book if you want to be more health and care about that, they show a lot of small and smart exercise to do every day just to make your health ok
Very pragmatic if you care about to be more healthy they kind of follow the Pareto Principle and is very small direct to the point.
Very pragmatic if you care about to be more healthy they kind of follow the Pareto Principle and is very small direct to the point.
January 18, 2019
A book like this one should be required reading for everybody that sit the majority of the day, from kids in school to office workers.
This one is targeting programmers, but any office worker could use it's advice.
This one is targeting programmers, but any office worker could use it's advice.
May 15, 2019
Lots of good health advice, much of it good for not just programmers, but people who work desk bound jobs. I'm pretty active, but I did pick up a few new tricks, exercises, and approaches from this book.
February 15, 2018
This book is good at pointing out other really good books. I am happy that i started reading it because i found references to even better books.
July 11, 2021
That was such an enjoyable experience to read this book as well as already starting to put some advices in practice. I thought I wouldn't like this book so I started reading just to give it a chance and see if there could be something to benefit from. I was wrong and I wish I had read this book before. It's a book from 2013 and I ended up reading it now in 2021. The book shares a lot of interesting ideas about a healthier lifestyle which are backed by research and study (and the author even makes clear when something is not yet been completely proven). However I risk sharing my opinion here: I think that working from home and given the current situation regarding pandemic, this book is a good opportunity to improve people's wellbeing.
May 7, 2015
This book is the best fitness book I ever read and I really enjoy reading it and record every programmer to read it as well and I think companies must give this book for every programmer.
August 28, 2017
Well, I could say this book helps me out, basically save my life from killing myself for bad habits, Thanks a lot for charing this knowledge, lets continue with another book of pragmatic bookshlelf
January 17, 2019
Only good if you are totally ignorant of healthy living and/basic exercise/elementary nutrition, which may be true of many devs, engineers, and possibly even data scientist. Technologist (as well as to a lesser extent other "professionals") seem to suffer from the curse of success in the dimension of health, as the book points out, a lot of the traits that get one to success in technology, leads to grossly unbalanced lives. Doing conferences and getting per diem for frequent business travel can easily lead to very poor eating habits, having to code up some software procedure on a tight deadline can lead to no exercise, sedentary daily cycles, and poor sleep.
The book goes through basic health and wellness tasks one can go through: daily walks with short intensity vs intense jogging, alternating between standing and sitting vs just standing or sitting on an exercise ball, the possible perils of too much MSGs, Aspertain, caffeine, and doing desk exercises for your back etc, as well as introduce the basic metrics of health like BMI, tensile strength, cardilytics etc.
But if you have hired a decent trainer at least once, or read a basic book on the subject, this will all be known to you. Still, mildly entertaining to hear the author recast basic health instruction in developer contexts like refactoring and agile sprints. The most interesting fact I didn't know stated here was that both standing and sitting for long periods of time were detrimental to health, somewhat diminishing the value of standing desks to me.
Still, the message of the book is something I agree with, if you enjoy your profession, whether it be technology or some other high intensive field, in the long term, you will need to keep up your health to sustain your mind, to continue learning and honing in your skills. That fact alone should provide an incentive for obsessive/single-minded personalities to allocate sufficient time to work on their health.
Personally, when it comes to diet, although I don't follow it enough I found the old biblical story of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego very instructive. Eat a lot of raw vegetables, and stay away from the "kings food". Doing so will help keep your weight down, stave off pain, headaches, that will keep you productive. This goes double for a technologist who is constantly racing the machine to keep themselves relevant. Conditional recommend for the novice and ignorant
The book goes through basic health and wellness tasks one can go through: daily walks with short intensity vs intense jogging, alternating between standing and sitting vs just standing or sitting on an exercise ball, the possible perils of too much MSGs, Aspertain, caffeine, and doing desk exercises for your back etc, as well as introduce the basic metrics of health like BMI, tensile strength, cardilytics etc.
But if you have hired a decent trainer at least once, or read a basic book on the subject, this will all be known to you. Still, mildly entertaining to hear the author recast basic health instruction in developer contexts like refactoring and agile sprints. The most interesting fact I didn't know stated here was that both standing and sitting for long periods of time were detrimental to health, somewhat diminishing the value of standing desks to me.
Still, the message of the book is something I agree with, if you enjoy your profession, whether it be technology or some other high intensive field, in the long term, you will need to keep up your health to sustain your mind, to continue learning and honing in your skills. That fact alone should provide an incentive for obsessive/single-minded personalities to allocate sufficient time to work on their health.
Personally, when it comes to diet, although I don't follow it enough I found the old biblical story of Shadrach, Mesach, and Abednego very instructive. Eat a lot of raw vegetables, and stay away from the "kings food". Doing so will help keep your weight down, stave off pain, headaches, that will keep you productive. This goes double for a technologist who is constantly racing the machine to keep themselves relevant. Conditional recommend for the novice and ignorant
December 13, 2024
This book provides basic health exercises and advise to those who spend hours at a computer. I fit the description of the primary audience, but have a general active lifestyle. Many of the healthy topics in the book are already part of my repertoire. I find that there are short periods of time when I travel, when my lifestyles and habits change for the worse. People who work from home also tend to make more trips to the refrigerator than they would if they were at an office. Those are not really addressed in this book. However, I do think this book would benefit many of my peers.
There are some good topics that can help a team do better with health goals, like team exercises, such as dodge ball. I've done team activities like badminton and tai chi, but something usually breaks down and ends the improved process. The topic on diets to follow is also interesting, the author suggests to follow one and then switch. Hmm.
There are some good topics that can help a team do better with health goals, like team exercises, such as dodge ball. I've done team activities like badminton and tai chi, but something usually breaks down and ends the improved process. The topic on diets to follow is also interesting, the author suggests to follow one and then switch. Hmm.
May 7, 2017
Programming is a time and energy consuming profession. Most programmers tend to have a sedentary life and long working hours. This book's aim is to change all that. The author backs his guidelines and programs with research and shows how bad habits the programmers generally have affect their health.. negatively, that is.
Since I started reading this book, I have started making some changes, am now using a software called which reminds you periodically to take breaks and walk around or stretch. And I have a list of more changes to make gradually.
Although the book is targeted towards programmers, it's not restricted to programmers, anyone willing to have a better life would find the advice helpful.
If you're a programmer that sites +5 hours in front of a screen each day, you have to read this.
Since I started reading this book, I have started making some changes, am now using a software called which reminds you periodically to take breaks and walk around or stretch. And I have a list of more changes to make gradually.
Although the book is targeted towards programmers, it's not restricted to programmers, anyone willing to have a better life would find the advice helpful.
If you're a programmer that sites +5 hours in front of a screen each day, you have to read this.
September 4, 2018
After reading the ToC of the book I was quite sceptical. But first few chapters have dismissed my scepticism completely. It is the very thorough book covering quite a large field of what does it mean to be a healthy person. And using us, programmers, as examples and working material. So it really does feel related to our everyday problems, habits and routines.
The book is not yet another "I know what is best". It is based on extensive research: the list of used literature is quite impressive. And the author is not afraid of comparing different researches, pointing their (in)conclusiveness and contradictions.
Each chapter has specific goals to achieve and good action list at the end. Daily checklist presented also brings structure to the fitness routine that the author proposes.
The book is not yet another "I know what is best". It is based on extensive research: the list of used literature is quite impressive. And the author is not afraid of comparing different researches, pointing their (in)conclusiveness and contradictions.
Each chapter has specific goals to achieve and good action list at the end. Daily checklist presented also brings structure to the fitness routine that the author proposes.
December 19, 2018
A must read for all programmers.
The books highlights the typical physical problems that a programmer will encounter in her life. Obesity, Headaches, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Back Problems, etc. The book gives a set of simple exercises or procedures that can be done or adopted to prevent or cure these problems.
The book is written in an agile to which the modern programmers should be able to relate very easily. Throughout the book the author also gives the warning that the programmers should consult the doctors before they take up the strenuous exercises suggested.
The books highlights the typical physical problems that a programmer will encounter in her life. Obesity, Headaches, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Back Problems, etc. The book gives a set of simple exercises or procedures that can be done or adopted to prevent or cure these problems.
The book is written in an agile to which the modern programmers should be able to relate very easily. Throughout the book the author also gives the warning that the programmers should consult the doctors before they take up the strenuous exercises suggested.
August 9, 2021
It is not a book with entirely new ideas but it is a grwat collections of practical ideas and advice. Altough I listened to the audiobook and didn't follow the advice as planned by the author, it really educated me and gave me ideas. There are a lot of things to consider about health and I was glad this book covers a lot of aspects. I recommend this book if you seek a helpful collection with practical advice.
October 21, 2020
Good health tips and posture correction tips will especially do the alexander technique (). The book also mentioned some empirical studies on people who exercise actually live longer and the percentage of muscle we have in our body has a direct correlation with longevity.
April 16, 2021
We all know how important exercise and good eating habits are, but it's nice to have the why explicitly mapped to programmers. I learned about the common issues that arise from sitting inside all day, and strategies to mitigate them. Most importantly, the book has me recommitted to taking regular breaks and working exercise into my day.
May 5, 2019
Contains a lot of useful information on general health topics (fitness, diet) but also specifics for office workers (e.g. preventing wrist and back pain). Many references to studies. I got very annoyed by the permanent use of programming terms ("refactoring your fitness", "unit test your health").
August 17, 2019
Yazilim isi ile ugrasanlar olarak pek saglimiza dikkat etmiyoruz. Bu durum dogal olarak isimize de yansiyor. Bu kitap bize nasil daha saglikli bir yazilimci olabilecegimize dair ip uclari veriyor ve ornekler ile bunlari destekliyor.
December 2, 2018
Same sort of things you hear about - though I did appreciate that it was all laid out cleanly - and the veganism shout-out :)
July 14, 2018
A must-read or listen to for any engineer.
February 10, 2021
I am happy to know that you can be a programmer and healthy.
March 28, 2021
If you find it hard to follow the guidelines, use to setup the break time reminder.
April 19, 2021
Tennis and rock climbing sound great!
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June 17, 2023
good general health tips
September 5, 2024
Good overall, made me go to walks and think about my health.
January 30, 2014
This is a pragmatic book. (Ha ha). No really. Often programmers can be pretty lazy about their health. I know I was... And this book gets points for making me actually initiate some changes - like doing core strength exercises. This is an encouraging book and covers the whole range of health issues relevant to programmers. It includes interesting info and lots of small ideas that you can start doing immediately.
There are only minor negatives. The chapter on food seems a bit light. I'm always wary of people using the term common sense but, really, this chapter is just common sense - eat less and eat your fruit and veggies. I was expecting more.
On the whole though, highly recommended.
There are only minor negatives. The chapter on food seems a bit light. I'm always wary of people using the term common sense but, really, this chapter is just common sense - eat less and eat your fruit and veggies. I was expecting more.
On the whole though, highly recommended.
September 6, 2016
Easy and worthwhile, but not quite perfect. Detailed about some aspects of physical health, with a handful of useful exercises for your back, ways to assess health and goals to aim for. Backed by plenty of scientific evidence. Many useful little tricks and tips.
Gets a a bit too unrealistic (fanatic?) though. Examples: Change position every 20 minutes (standing desk, sitting desk), but sitting and standing each are very, very bad for you. Work out in the 5-minute breaks in pomodoro.
Merely scratches the surface on other aspects, such as diet, rest or mental health.
Still, I learned a few useful things from it.
Gets a a bit too unrealistic (fanatic?) though. Examples: Change position every 20 minutes (standing desk, sitting desk), but sitting and standing each are very, very bad for you. Work out in the 5-minute breaks in pomodoro.
Merely scratches the surface on other aspects, such as diet, rest or mental health.
Still, I learned a few useful things from it.
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