Working as a developer can be really stressful and the more clients you have, the less time you have for yourself. As years are passing by, sooner or later you’ll end up in position that you can’t even run away to a mini vacation without a laptop. No matter where you are, you simply cannot hide from your clients! They need you, you need them, no clients, no cash flow.
Many developers including me are working 12-20 hours a day, 7 days a week, sitting, multitasking, thinking all the time, what to do now, what to do next, while email notifications are popping up every 10 minutes. “Oh my site is down, HELP!” I don’t care, I haven’t slept since last Thursday!
If you’re good at what you do as a developer, this job will kill u sooner or later, slowly but surely. I remember when I went to some doc to check my health and he hooked me up to some device to check all kind of things. After 10 minutes the report showed abnormally high level of electromagnetic radiation in my body! Dude was shocked!
The creepy look
I don’t remember when was the last time I saw a developer that looks normal and it’s all because of lack of physical activity, stress, insomnia and so on. The most of us look like zombies, but the good part is that we can afford a plastic surgery!
Anyway, I tried everything under the sun to recover my body & mind, from jogging to vitamins, basketball, parties, swimming and zillion other activities and I wasn’t satisfied with the results. I was still felling overtired with no work motivation, slow as a slug with desire to finally quit and go find some normal 9 to 5 job.
Then the miracle happened! While I was Googling to find some spiritual guru healer from Africa to improve my brain performance, I ended up on a article describing the benefits of hiking! After reading it, I said to myself, hmm, maybe I should try this out! 7 days later, I got my first backpack, shoes and I was ready to dive into the world of hiking! My first hiking tour was near my city and it took me 2 and half hours to climb up that mountain. When I finally reached the top I was so thrilled that I decided that this is something I would like to do every week! Later on I joined the local hiking club and the more I was hiking, the more I could feel how my body and mind is recovering.
I never had so much as I energy as I have now.
Hiking is perfect for developers because of the physical activity, contact with nature and the most incredible thing is that once you step on the hiking trail, your brain is magically shutting off. No thoughts whatsoever, like the brain is in the standby mode which obviously helps him to recover. Beside these benefits, you’ll also get opportunity to enjoy in a beautiful landscapes, breathe fresh air and simply forget about the work. Recently I read some Japanese study, their scientists discovered that if you spend 3,4 hours in a wilderness, your body immunity will be protected for the next 30 days!
All developers should start hiking! It boosts productivity, recovers overheated brain and your body is simply screaming for more!