Like all professions, coding has its ups and downs. One downside to coding is that you sit for the majority of the day, which has its effects on your health. Here are four tips for better health while you code.

Focus on Your Posture

One of the easiest ways to quickly help your health is to focus on your posture. When you’re a coder, you’re prone to sitting for long periods of time, which can have adverse health effects by its nature.

To help you avoid slouching, you can pick up a posture shirt. Made for both men and women, these shirts help your back maintain alignment. Now, the shirt won’t fix your posture in and of itself, but it will remind you constantly that keep a focus on it.

There are other clothing options that will help as well. Women can invest in a really good posture bra to help, and men can invest in the same for their briefs.

Beyond clothing, you can simplify things by just focusing on having better posture. Sitting up straight throughout the day, taking short breaks to stretch, and going for a walk at lunch time are all strategies to help your body keep its posture.

Get a Better Chair

As a coder, chances are you sit a lot. And by a lot, we mean a lot! Probably best considered a hazard of the job, sitting for long periods of time is not good for the body, but there are ways to help this.

For starters, focus on picking up an ergonomically designed desk chair to do your coding in. Not all chairs are created equally, and cheap office chairs often suffer from poor design. This poor design translates into all day sitting that is not good for your health.

Bonus: if you’re really bold, consider switching to a standing desk and ditch the chair altogether. Standing desks, combined with mats for your feet, are a lot better for your health than sitting all day.

Adjust Your Eyes Frequently

Staring at a computer screen is really bad for your eyes, and will have long term adverse effects. While looking at a computer is an inevitable part of coding, there are steps you can take to reduce the fatigue on your eyes.

Give your eyes frequent breaks by looking away from your computer screen. The computer emits a blue light that is bad for your retinas – prolonged exposure over years can actually lead to age-related macular degeneration.

When you give your eyes a rest, focus on something that is a good distance away. Changing the depth that your eyes focus on helps your eyes reset, and relaxes the eye muscles used for focusing.

One final technique is to glance away from the screen whenever you are typing something that you don’t need to look at the screen for. As you look away, blink several times. Blinking moistens your eyes while helps prevent them from getting tired.

Avoid Carpel Tunnel

Typing all day has a direct relationship to carpel tunnel syndrome, which typically affects people in their wrists. Carpel tunnel comes from frequently performing the same motion over and over, which is exactly what constant typing does.

Carpel tunnel can typically be prevented by taking frequent breaks and stretching your arms and wrists. Try to take occasional breaks, and split up your coding time if you can.

For example, code for a period of time, but then give yourself a break by reading email or taking a meeting. Then, take another shift behind the computer. These break points can help to break up the things that cause carpel tunnel.