The importance of Great Physical and Mental Health

Good morning. So a few years ago, I had a thread that discussed the importance of physical and mental especially for those of us in creative fields. I'm hoping to create a thread like this (and keep it on topic), allowing my fellow Unity devs to check in, even to say hey.

Mental health is vastly important for us to be able to create the vision we desire, especially if we're doing art long term.

For me, I've been dealing with some issues with anxiety and bouts of depression, with things like job stress and making sure I don't get overwhelmed. I also got married last year and balancing my creating time and with my wife, so that is a plus.

Lastly, I'm slowly getting back into game development and working on bettering my health, including walks with my wife and spending time together. How have you all managed? And please keep this civil. This is a very important topic for all of us.

 

Could you dig out that thread if it still exists?
I'll make it short but May 2021 was the time that I burned out, still recovering to this day, learned a lot I wish I hadn't found the need to learn but now I'm glad that I did.

I now go for a walk every day except when I wasn't feeling getting better, I always went the same route but slowly, increasingly, over time I shifted more towards what it is now: walking a different route every day, never the same twice in a row. It is so weird looking back, seeing how this is essentially what worked: follow a purpose, no matter how small or crazy, and it keeps you going. For me that purpose is city-cleaning as I go - whenever someone once again has put up notes, ads, requests on street posts and such, I tear them down in a flash of anti-vandalism (and heroically preventing a possible €600 fine for the author who probably didn't know just HOW much the fine is). And that also determines what route I take. I'm on a scavenger hunt. Though sometimes some people go nuts. They had me walk 3,5 hours one day.

I also apply a good measure of my own judgement. If someone lost their pet, I'll leave it for as long as it makes sense to look for that type of pet in a city. Less than two weeks certainly, and that's not so much about survival/return chance over time but because how little attention people pay to things posted on street posts, and less so the more weathered the note is. No one likes to look at, or read from, icky dirty things.

I just wish I could be programming on the go.

 

Generally speaking, I get up to stretch for 5 minutes every 55 minutes. Every other hour I get up and go for either a 20 minute walk or spend at least 10 minutes on the exercise bike at an incline at least high enough to get my heartrate up. I typically only use the exercise bike if the weather isn't conducive to walking, which is more often than not because I live somewhere that gets a lot of rain and snow. Aside from being generally good for physical health, this also gives me time to step away from problems long enough that I can revaluate them when I get back.

When it comes to diet, I avoid refined grains and keep sugars to a minimum, though not so much that I can't really indulge myself when the fancy strikes. Sometimes I just want a cheeseburger or some ice cream or whatever. My primary drink while working is always water, which I also have a timer set for so that I don't accidentally go five hours without taking a drink. Usually I can get away with having a glass every time I get back from a walk/off the bike though.

I don't put too much stock into things like standing desks because, while they do have health benefits of their own, getting an adjustable one set up so that it doesn't interfere with cabling in ways where it pulls them out of their respective ports and dealing with maintenance issues just feel like they're not nearly as convenient as setting timers on my phone.

 

whenver i can use my laptop for work i go outside and work in a hammock. even if its cold.

sitting inside all day is just sad.

 

Unfortunately it was locked by an admin for going WAYYYYYYYY off topic, but I'm glad you're taking better care of yourself.

 

Now that would be cool... I would need some form of power supply to take with me

 

Changing your diet DEFINITELY helps, especially if you're getting older

 

Alright, I've got a good advice:

Do not underestimate walking, and keep physical activity above minimum level.

With no physical activity eventually you'll reach the point where you're too tired to do anything, have no energy to do anything, want to sleep all the time, but sleeping does not help. What's more this state encroaches on you very slowly and you don't notice it.

Short walk few times per week (or dumbbells if you can't) fixes that in a matter of days.

 

Yes it went far too off...
https://forum.unity.com/threads/the-importance-of-great-health-for-us-developers.148777/

 

And the exercise feels good too

 

Yep. But even in 2022, mental and physical health is super important

 

It looks like, this thread repeats exactly the same advise, what the other from 2012.
Seems like you have failed to follow your own advise from 2012 ...

It shows, forum it is not the most suitable place to any type of mental treatment, or healthy being.
Specially not this one.

Game dev can be very stressful work and even as a hobby.
You should look for an alternative life style in my opinion.

 

Have you ever heard the saying, "If you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life."? I'd say this is the perfect spot to talk about mental and physical health - especially as game developers. Not only is it critical to the design process, but it's fair to say that your mental state does transfer into the game on some level. Does the thought of connecting as a community here repulse you in some way?

If you don't feel like talking about it, that's entirely up to you. But, don't tell some they "should look for an alternative lifestyle". My opinion on what you should do has no relevance to the conversation the OP intended and neither does your opinion of lifestyle choices.

 

My situation is a bit different than most. At my FT job im an auto tech, manager, auto body guy, car salesman, and detailer. I get alot of exercise for 8-9 hours a day. I only eat good food, no fast food or junk. For mental, i spend summers (every weekend, from spring till fall), up at a campsite on a lake, with all the toys (boats, JetSki's, drones, etc.).

Winter time is what i call my "serious dev time", as i hate the cold and snow, so im inside alot. Im also single, so i dont have to worry about a wife or family. I do what i want, when i want, for as long as i want, its liberating, and addictive. Mentally, im very good. I teach Unity 3D/FPS, working on my second game, and i sub-contract for a few MMO's. What i get from this mentally, is seeing students (people i help), realize their own vision, progressing, learning, and creating. I call that a win.

Mentally and physically im very good, but not everyones situation is the same. I think everyone does the best they can with their situation. I understand your point, but its relevance, not so much. This is a game engine forum, to talk about the engine, its users, and knowledge there of. So to me, this subject really isnt that important here (thats why the previous post "got out of hand"), is better suited on a health site, not on Unity Forums...

 

People don't tend to listen to mental advise, specially if someone points out, there is something odd with hem. They keep blind eyes on such, until often is too late. Specially for people who are lonely. Game devs often tend to sacrifice the health balance. And then it is hard to maintain the balance.

@warthos3399 is at good position, as he is out of the typical office during day job. That allows for life variation. Plus contact with people.

The best lesson here is no to tell how to do things, but what went wrong, so people can recognize issue earlier.
And I am not talking because I read some blog posts. I met various people, which end up in exact situations.
Recoalescence period tend to be long. And I had to warn myself too, but that thx for self awareness.

 

Absolutely. I've been looking into doing yoga and listening to rain sounds at night

 

30 minutes of a pulse above 120-130 is doing wonders for my health. Sadly my knees weren't up to it so they broke down on me. But started to workout and focus on leg strength and back strength, can run for miles now without problem. Also went and got a pair of custom molded soles for my feet, also did wonder for my knees and periostitis.

Oh, and lastly I stay away from asphalt when I run. Take the bike down to a park with a gravel road

 

I often notice that my joints don't hurt as much when I run or jog on grass, though having flat feet sucks. Bought some sneakers that have memory foam in the soles and it's super comfy

 

I have flat feets too. Custom molded soles really did the trick for me. It costs a bit, but its deducible expense

 

While that might be the case for your part of the world it's not necessarily the case everywhere. In the US it has to be required for work and not suitable for everyday wear to qualify.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tip...use-work-clothes-as-a-tax-deduction/L59P1ocW1

 

That could be true, I'm in the EU it's regarded as "preventive treatment" and is deductible, i guess because it will cost the tax payers more money if the employee becomes unable to work.

Chiropractor and osteopath treatments are also deductible following the same logic


Edit: completly unrelated to work clothes.

 

Yeah damn my curiosity ... now I wish I could make those images on the last page unseen ...

 

Polio vaccine is some good S***. Be glad you live in a western country were it's mandatory.

 

This is a topic that should be visited regularly, people fall back into old habits and reminders and a bit of discussion are nice.

I'm upper-40s.

Exercise: Get a rowing machine (the Concept brand, there's a reason everyone has one). No impact, effective at any age. 85% of the body exercised (core included). Add pushups for full body (hitting chest and triceps). One piece of equipment (it's take more space than one expects), indoors, no excuses. I do 10-15 minutes of rowing, 4-5 days a week, pushups in batches whenever (nothing is formalized).

Diet: Try and eat as much fruit, vegetables, and whole grains as recommended. Add some meat if you want (or beans and/or protein powder). The recommendations can result in crazy fruit consumption. My house of four people goes through 25 bananas, 10 apples, 4lbs of grapes, and a bag of little oranges every WEEK. That's just the fruit. 4 servings of something per day is a LOT.

I won't recommend any particular diet (I'm "veganish" or "semi-vegan") but if you are looking for info I'd recommend What the Health on Netflix and the related book How Not To Die (best book name ever!).

Pro-Tip - Get a three story row house with the office on the 3rd floor but the kitchen is on the 1st floor... 20-30 flights of stairs a day just living! (three stories sounds like a mansion, but row house means it's only 25 feet wide...)

 

This is awesome. My wife and I are saving up for a house and having three flights of stairs will help. Except for groceries lmao

 

Just remember that 30 minutes of elevated pulse is needed to keep being healthy. 10 to 15 minutes is too little

 

I don't know about you guys but I used to hate exercise. Then I got into VR fitness, especially VZfit which interfaces with an exercise bike and lets you ride around the world in VR.

Now I spend about 3 hours a week riding my VZfit bike and lost over 40 pounds...

 

This right here. I think this is the key, or at least it has been for me.

It's so easy to just keep going when you don't have anyone or any thing to remind you of reality. Sitting there for hours, completely immersed in some problem, even if it means pushing your lunch by a few hours, or perhaps the entire day. In the end those things will grind you down.

I think the most important realization is that you don't have to do everything at once. I know it's so tempting to just sit there, working yourself to your limit, especially when you're so close to solving some problem, a breakthrough or seeing something finally reach that stage you've been working so hard for. But, you don't have to do it that way. The important thing is that you're making progress, and you most assuredly can make progress even if you break it up in healthier sessions.

Respect your own limits, or break them at your own peril. A timer is an easy way to remind yourself.

 

I sometimes find timers to be counterproductive. Same as pomodoro, it's good for stuff you have to force yourself to do, but it also interrupts flow state, which is where you want to be for your best work.

 

I kid you not, I don't know how many times I've managed to solve some problem as I was reminded that I needed to cook food. It's as if that extra sense of urgency gives me a push to finally make the right connections.

 

I hate to admit it, but this has worked really well for me too. Supernatural on the quest has managed to keep me interested over a year now.

 

Well for me it's simple enough. Whenever I feel my blood pressure dropping I just go to Unity Forums for a good old stress uptake. Works wonders and is cheap. Apparently 30 minutes of elevated pulse is needed to keep being healthy.

 

How's that one different from beatsaber/boxvr?

 

Adding to my last post: learn how to cook. Learning how to cook is one of the most important things you can do for your health because you can decrease your reliance on junk food and fast food with just a bit of prep. Every two weeks or so I make a bunch of food that I then toss in the freezer in individual portion amounts and then use those to make meals. This consists of things like chicken breasts, cauliflower rice, various vegetables, basically the base components of meals so that I can mix and match things to make whatever suits my interests at the time.

In doing so, I not only have full meals I can throw together in about 15-20 minutes, but I have better control over the nutritional value of those meals, at the expense of maybe a could hour's time every couple weeks.

 

It's exactly the same concept, but you stand in a filmed wilderness/outdoor scene and it uses lots of well known songs from different genres. It also has trainers that cheer you on (it would be cool if you could turn that off). I think I dig it just because I can play it to old songs I know well.

 

I found with setting a timer myself I tended to hit snooze to often so I could do "just one more thing". And then ending up missing my break entirely.

In the end I went with something more powerful, I got good use out of WorkSpace when I was super heavy on the computers. It basically locks you computer for fifteen seconds every five minutes, forcing you to stand up and stretch. Then it locks you out for five minutes every hour, forcing you to leave and do something else. You can set other limits as well. This broke me out of my habit of "zone snoozing".

I found that after a couple of years using the software, my natural work habits shifted to automatically taking breaks. I was anticipating being locked out and taking breaks on my own.

 

I really don't want to get into politics, but I will say that I've had severe anxiety over the last election and maybe slept 4 hours the three days leading up to election day. It has completely consumed my time and my mind leaving absolutely nothing for working on my game.

Now that it's over I'm trying to get back to it, but I will say I was NOT okay this last year over it and honestly alienated some friends from it.

I'm not really sure what to do about it, but it's at least over for now.

 

I have delved into the realm of learning about health over the last 10 years and I have come to a list of priorities for myself and I think they apply to most humans as well. The list goes in terms of most important to lesser importance:

Sleep
Movement
Diet

Sleep is to me, the most important aspect of one's mental health barring any external diseases. If you can get into a healthy sleep rhythm most of the other stuff falls into place. Get to bed consistently at the same time every night, and keep your room cool and as dark as possible with little to no screen use up to 2 hours before. Some people need 6-7 hours, some people need 8 - 9. Find what works for you.

Next up is movement. I always found that when learning new concepts, or just learning in general, I would go take a bike ride, or a run/walk some days and when I would come back the difference would be stark in my mental acuity vs if I had not done the physical activity. I have since then got a standing desk and a mini-treadmill under it to achieve a similar effect. I want to sit less in my life. Its not good for the human body or mind to be sedentary for longer periods of time consecutively. Fresh air and getting the blood moving will do wonders for creative thinking along with keeping a general sharpness to the mind. Bodies are bio-mechanical engines and its good to get the oil and fluids flowing. One of my favorite quotes is from a guy who talks about how to learn better is - "When the body moves, the mind grooves." And I try to practice that everyday.

Diet is key as well but personally I'm not going to even talk about this as its such a wide swath of information to dive into. I'll just say this. Try to incorporate more foods that aren't packaged/preserved and you'll be doing yourself a favor. What kind of diet you eat is really up to you. The human body is capable of ingesting a large variety of foods and not a single diet works for everyone.

Sleep well.
Move more.
Eat better.

 

I got into doing exercise a few years back with my Vive but found it limiting as I could only use it in the office hooked up to my PC. I also got a VZFit exercise bike but got tired of the limited games on there, thought about making one in Unity but then they pulled the plug on the SDK. They went to using the Quest but they were at least offering free lifetime subscriptions to early adopters so I thought I would give it a try and bought a Quest II. I ended up buying a bunch of exercise type games for the Quest II and like it because it is great for cardio. Unlike the other devices I can exercise pretty much wherever at home or on trips anywhere I can get WiFi so I use it a lot more than either my Vive or VZFit for exercise now.

 

I don't want to get into politics either, but needless to say over the last several years there have been plenty of current events- political, natural, and geopolitical to get anxious over, regardless of what your politics are. I think many of us have had similar feelings at times but it is mostly stuff you cannot control and you will probably regret wasting time worrying about it later.

 

You're missing an important entry: recreation. A proper balance of work and recreation is important for physical and mental health.

 

I love VR but I'm pretty sure it can't replace 3-4 miles 2 to 3 times a week. But sure if you can hold a steady pulse above 120 for 30 minutes studies are saying it should suffice. Get a Garmin or similar so you can keep track on your values. It's also a good way of competing with yourself.

 

I ride my bike in VR the equivalent of 30-40 miles a week so I tend to think it actually can...

 

Yeah, but that's the bike doing that not VR per say just make sure you set the workout level on the bike high enough so you get to those pulse levels. That's when the health benefits starts to kick in. Also do intervall 30 seconds maxing out (pulse at around 150-200 depending on person) and then 30 seconds rest. Repeat. Just make sure to warm up first. Anaerobic training is a great way of staying in shape

 

Oh yeah, it's definitely the bike. It's just that I find exercising on its own to be torturous, just so boring... In VR it's actually fun!

 

It wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list by any means but yes recreation is another of the hundred one could delve into

 

I was exactly like that when I started out, but as I progressed it became a battle against my own efforts and also friends on Strava Also getting outside for running and biking as another benefit, fresh air

 

Lol. Riding your bike outdoors around where I live means you have a death wish!

 

It absolutely can. In terms of calories burnt, at least. Try "The thrill of the fight", for example. Now, if you want to strengthen your legs, that's a different story.

 

I would like if you guys could record your pass with a Garmin or similar i can't imagine it's close to a 30 minute run (though i would liked to be proven wrong).

Here is a pass i did today



170 bpm avarage and 194 max. The max was reached first after 20 minutes of running. Not staying those games are wrong. But Im pretty certain they do not replace running.

Almost maxed the condition effect on this run