Ask HN: hacker ways of fighting anxiety?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=509283

by maxawaytoolong • 17 years ago

17 15 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Last summer I developed a nasty anxiety disorder. I'm now trying to work on a startup project but I'm finding it very hard to concentrate. It's the typical GAD stuff: constantly worried about health, hard to sleep, fatigued, sometimes feel short of breath and minor chest tightness. Etc. The thing that sucks is I don't remember feeling like this until last summer, and I'd really like to feel normal so I can get some work done.

Was wondering if any other hacker / entrepreneurs have this problem and what you do to fix it.

My apologies if this is too off-topic, but the dedicated web forums for this are a bit sensational and a "hacker" approach seems like it would suit me the best (ala the "Hacker's Diet").

amichail• 17 years ago

Try not worrying about falling asleep at specific times -- such worry is itself a source of anxiety.

When you are tired enough, you will sleep.

mcav• 17 years ago

Treat your anxiety like you would any coding problem:

Consider your anxiety's symptoms as problems in an issue tracker. For every thing that makes you anxious, stop and think: Is this a true, valid, legitimate [health] concern? If so, address it. But if not -- if it's merely a product of your worry -- then mark that issue as "resolved", "notabug", etc.

It's a logical approach: If there isn't anything medically wrong and you're just anxious about it, then take a moment and tell yourself that it's just a needless worry, and worrying about a bug doesn't fix it.

The more you can allow yourself to focus on other things (i.e. becoming engrossed in a project), the easier it will be to put your anxiety aside.

[I am not a doctor, etc.]

Allocator2008• 17 years ago

I would absolutely see a therapist. You could try out a psychologist just to "talk things out with" and he/she can recommend a psychiatrist if medication is needed. It can help. I have ADD and occasionally have anxiety symptoms as well, and I've been to a few therapists so I know that therapy can really help.

pg2• 17 years ago

Exercise is what always saves me, specifically running, soccer (before hurting knee), and yoga (since hurting knee).

lionhearted• 17 years ago

Seconded. Key for exercise: Find something that doesn't bore you to death. If most kinds of exercise do, you're not alone. Me, I get immensely bored of any generic cardio pretty quickly. I found the solution by chance: Bring a book while doing exercise bike. I can only read at about 60-70% of normal speed, and can only go 50-70% intensity, but I can do a couple hours of light/medium cardio while reading a good book. Weighttraining, martial arts, fencing, ultimate frisbee, golf, snowboarding, scubadiving, and occasionally pickup games of whatever in the snow have appealed to me. That might sound like a lot of activities, but I've tried dozens more and had them "not do it for me" and was bored or didn't enjoy them.

Eventually I found what works for me: things where I can think about tactics as I play or are played in really beautiful nature. Weight training also surprised me in how much I liked it once I got into it. Things without tactics or nature usually don't do it for me, but everyone's different and get into different things. Some people like to turn their mind off during exercise, some people like being really stimulated or distracted. Trial and error, plus not being discouraged if you dislike the first x kinds of exercise you try is the way.

pg2• 17 years ago

Another way to make exercise interesting is to do something interesting while doing it. I ran into a friend recently who had lost a lot of weight. He said it was simply from using an elliptical machine while he read email. This seemed a very clever way to take advantage of the excessive amount of time one ends up spending on email.

coglethorpe• 17 years ago

bbuffone• 17 years ago

I had the exact same problem a while back. It was while working full time and creating a startup on the side. The stress of every thing resulted in the same symptoms. Every day I needed to resist the urge to go to the emergency room because I thought I was going to die of a heart attack. This lasted for about 7 months and I didn't tell anyone until eventually I couldn't take it and one night drove myself to the hospital. After a series of unpleasant tests, it was just to much stress.

So what did I do to fix it?

1.) Realized the deadlines and pressure I was putting on myself were self imposed and definitely didn't need to be that aggressive. One thing I have learned, all time lines and deadlines are made up (know one really knows, its just a best guess), unless there is a contract attached. Doesn't mean be lazy and slack off.

2.) Better time management, context switching in life is aa expensive as it is on a computer, Set aside time for each thing.

3.) Task lists, every day create a list of tasks you want to complete and cross items off when done. The sense of accomplishment creates a good feeling. Tomorrow create a new task list, don't add to the old one, this is a good way to clear the list of all the shit that doesn't matter or has changed. You are going to be behind schedule, the goals is to make progress and create milestones that can be reached.

3.) Balance your life, being heads down can only last for so long. Enjoy family, friends, people on the street, talk about what you are doing, get ideas and feedback. Get a way for a weekend, see #1 shit can wait a weekend.

4.) As soon as possible find someone that can start to use the software and give you feedback. It is amazing how one person giving feedback will help energize you. They will think the progress you are making is far better than you. This is because what you are doing will hopefully help them in some way.

5.) Started exercising, eating better and stopped drinking Coke. Caffeine increases heart rate and only added to the problem, but I was drinking Coke to cope with the sleeping issues. Exercise is always positive, don't need to run a marathon just get out and walk around, enjoy the sun.

6.) Massages, I made my wife start giving me massages and that worked really well. No wife, no worries, you can pay money for a professional.

maxawaytoolong• 17 years ago

Wow, that is very similar to my story. Almost exactly, with the hospital visit and everything! In my case, I had switched startups and the 2nd one was a big mistake, with a sociopathic boss, unworkable deadlines, working until 5 am every day for weeks, etc.

Thanks for the tips! I've already found that avoiding caffeine is very helpful.

jgalvez• 17 years ago

Exercise helps you feel always refreshed and improves your sleeping considerably. I have finally managed to fit jogging as a daily activity and it has helped me wonders.

But the key thing is marijuana. There's no better aid to concentration than getting high. Of course you can't over do it, but getting the /right high/ will make you code like there's no tomorrow.

It completely relieves you of any pressure and stress and makes any problem interesting to work on. It's the only thing that will make me stare 3 hours non-stop at code without being affected by distractions and without getting tired while also actually producing and being creative. I'm not ashamed of admitting it and I'm most definitely sure I'm not alone being a stoner coder :)

Todd• 17 years ago

This may work for marathon coding sessions (be sure you're following TDD practices), but it can be counterproductive for people dealing with GAD. It can actually be a cause of GAD.

GrandMasterBirt2• 17 years ago

There are a couple of things I do to get away from stress. Remember you need to get away from stress, not problems. You need to solve problems, but get them out of your mind until they are needed.

1) Pick up a fun sport. Sport gets the endorphins going, gets your body working, makes you think better, feel more self-confident, etc. I take Karate for fun (hell I've been white belt for 6mo since I didnt take test) but it made me so much happier that I can't even compare myself now and 6 mo ago (don't go to the stuff like Tiger Sholmans, they are all crap, go to the cheap dojos, try a few out. Ask friends if they go.) Or play some soccer, football, basketball, just make sure to push your body just hard enough to get a good workout, definately past the "oh I'm out of breath I'm sitting this one out" play till you can't move the feet. :) Just know your limits.

2) Go out with friends, even if you are married, go do something completely useless with a friend.

3) Just sit down and clear your mind. Know that all the problems are always there until you solve them (or until you get help) but treat yourself to 5-10 minutes of complete ignorance and tranquility. Do this as often as you need it. If you need to do 30 min of work and 10 min of R&R do it! If your boss complains then tell him calmly that if he has a better way to get some stress relief you are all for it. As a human being he will understand anxiety.

4) Don't bottle it in. Talk to a spouse, a family member, a friend, a co-worker, anyone. Sometimes just letting it out can make you feel so much better. (had this happen recently, been dwelling on something for many many hrs, could not sleep, a 2 minute conversation with a co-worker just letting my feelings be known made me feel better, and in the end I just stressed over nothing. But it helped. Was not directed at the co-worker.)

5) I noticed crap food also adds to stress. Eat better. I drink water and juice (rarely), eat fruits vs candy, no fast-food like mcdonalds, burger king, subeway, anything like that, eat some cooked vegetables (for flavor). I noticed diet definitely helps. And it improves your health as a bonus.

6) STOP WORKING. You can't have your brain on full power 24/7. At some point it just crashes and if you keep pushing you will get bad results. Its why I can't drive for extended periods of time without rests, too much attention, too much brain power used, eventually I just start shutting down. Same with programming. I take breaks, read news, talk to co workers, get lots of work done, go home, see family. Do anything to shut your brain down for a small time. If you are working till 5am and you can quit (if you are good this economy means you have a chance to find a job) then quit. No crap job is worth your life.

GrandMasterBirt2• 17 years ago

I just realized. What you can do is write down a list of all the things you can't do anything about at the moment. Every day change the list to see if anything can be taken off.

Every time you stress out look at the list. If its there remind yourself that there is nothing you can currently do, so let it be. Whatever happens will happen, but since you can't change it don't kill yourself over it.

chris11• 17 years ago

Exercise is great.

Sleep is great. I've figured out that if I don't get enough sleep, I usually end up wasting more time than I would have got sleeping.

That said, you definitely need some time off from work. I'd suggest taking off a full day (24 hr) a week from work. Do what ever you want, sleep, watch tv, play a sport, just don't do work. Tell yourself to think about work later. It's a good time to catch up on any lost sleep and de-stress.

scorpioxy• 17 years ago

I had no idea that this was wide spread among hackers. Although, thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense. Working in an abstract rational world and in an almost always stressful environment tends to bring this stuff out. Also, i found that people to tend to be "deep thinkers" always have these problems. Wonder why....

Some great tips here. I had a similar problem, although mine was a clinical depression induced by malaria medication i had to take while on a trip to Africa. What i did was to rest for a while and then start coding whenever i feel like it. In a couple of weeks, i found that i was coding for more than 10hrs a day. That was 3 years ago.

Ask HN: hacker ways of fighting anxiety?

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