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The Healthy Programmer

Get Fit, Feel Better, and Keep Coding

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The Pragmatic Bookshelf

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The Healthy Programmer
Get Fit, Feel Better, and Keep Coding

Joe Kutner

The Pragmatic Bookshelf

Raleigh, North Carolina
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Disclaimer
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.

Keep in mind that results vary from person to person. This book is not
intended as a substitute for medical or nutritional advice from a healthcare
provider or dietician. Some people have a medical history, condition, and/or
nutritional requirements that warrant individualized recommendations and,
in some cases, medications and healthcare surveillance.

Do not start, stop, or change medications or dietary practices without advice

from a professional healthcare provider and/or registered dietician. A
healthcare provider should be consulted if you are on medication or if you
have any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Do
not change your diet if you are ill or on medication, except under the super-
vision of a healthcare provider. Neither this nor any other book or discussion
forum is intended to take the place of personalized medical care and treat-
ment provided by your healthcare provider.

This book was current as of June, 2013, and as new information becomes
available through research, experience, or changes to product contents,
some of the data in this book may become invalid. You should seek the most
up-to-date information on your medical care and treatment from your
healthcare professional. The ultimate decision concerning care should be
made by you and your healthcare provider.

Information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the

part of the author, editors, or The Pragmatic Programmers, LLC. The author,
editors, and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of
this book.
Taking Healthy Pomodoro Breaks
In the late 1980s, Francesco Cirillo was struggling through his first years at
college. His productivity was low and his study habits lacked any kind of
structure. Even worse, he couldn’t focus on individual tasks because the
magnitude of the big picture was distracting him. Francesco needed a system
that would help him concentrate—so he created the Pomodoro Technique.

The Pomodoro Technique is a method of working on a single task for a short,

well-defined period of time. The basic activity loop goes like this:

1. Set a timer for twenty-five minutes.

2. Start working on a task.
3. Stop when the timer ends (even if the task is not done).
4. Take a five-minute break, and then return to Step 1.

Try it right now. Pick a task you’ve been agonizing over, set your timer, and
get to work. You’ll probably find that having a preset time box lessens the
fear of failing at the task, which might be what kept you from starting on it
in the first place. Instead of failing, you take a break.

Francesco named the technique after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he

used in college (pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato), and he called each
iteration a Pomodoro. But it’s the break between Pomodoros where we’re going
to build on this technique. Instead of surfing the Internet or getting a cup of
coffee, you’ll do something physically active. The goal is to get your body
moving every twenty-five minutes.

We’ll call this a Pomodoro workout. Set aside a block of time—two or three
hours. Then pick two or three programming tasks you want to do during that
time. You’ll also need to pick two or three exercises you want to do. They
could be walking, nerve-gliding, curl-ups, or any of the other activities you’ve
learned in this book. You’ll begin the workout with a programming task. Set
your timer for twenty-five minutes and get to work. When the period ends,
set your timer for five minutes and switch to your first exercise. After the
timer goes off, return to your computer and start the process over again.
Repeat this until the block of time you’ve allotted yourself is over (see Figure
31, A Pomodoro workout, on page 8).

According to Staffan Nöteberg, the author of Pomodoro Technique Illustrated

[Nöt09], this kind of physical activity during Pomodoro breaks is ideal. He
even does it himself. “I always leave the office chair during my Pomodoro
breaks,” Staffan says. “Normally I take a one-minute walk.”

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 •8

Figure 31—A Pomodoro workout

However, Staffan emphasizes the importance of time-boxing your breaks in

addition to your work periods. That is to say, you probably shouldn’t go for a
three-mile run between iterations. “Your breaks shouldn’t be longer than five
minutes to be able to continue quickly from where you left off,” he emphasizes.

Keeping your breaks short doesn’t render them useless, though. Small spurts
of exercise in between Pomodoros can have profound effects on your health.
In fact, these microactivity breaks may be more important to your health than
longer workouts.

A 2008 publication from a group of researchers at The University of Queens-

land in Australia found that getting thirty minutes of exercise per day was
less effective at preventing type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obe-
sity when it was done in one lump sum—especially when another fifteen hours
of the day were spent sitting. Surprisingly, subjects who split up their exercise
across the day were at lower risk for those health issues. The study suggests
that long periods of nonexercise can actually counteract the benefits of regu-

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 Do a Pomodoro workout •9

larly going to the gym.2 But as you learned in Chapter 3, A Farewell to Chairs?,
on page ?, just five minutes is enough to mitigate these dangers.

To make things even better, Staffan believes that the mental benefits of doing
physical activity during your breaks align well with the other goals of the
Pomodoro Technique. “One of the benefits of regularly taking short breaks is
that you recharge your brain,” Staffan asserts. “When you return to your
desk, it’s not uncommon that you have three awesome new ideas about how
to solve the problem you were struggling with before the break. If you focus
on something non-theoretical, like push-ups, it’ll probably help even more.”

When you do a Pomodoro workout, there’s a lot happening in your brain.

Neurons are being recruited and new pathways are being created. In Chapter
2, Bootstrapping Your Health, on page ?, you learned how exercise promotes
the production of BDNF, which strengthens this process. However, an ideal
plan for the best type, duration, and frequency of exercise that builds brain
power has not been identified. That kind of research just hasn’t been done
yet. It may happen in the next decade, but until then the Pomodoro Technique
can provide excellent structure that blends with your career goals and your
health goals.

Most programmers who use the Pomodoro Technique like that it pairs well
with large-scale methodologies such as Scrum, agile, and spiral (all of which
use time-boxed iterations). Given that, and how well Pomodoro also aligns
with the goals in this book, it’s a sure win for staying healthy, smart, and
productive. It can also help rebuild your habits. But if you’re going to make
fitness a habit, you’re also going to require a reward. For that, you’ll need
some feedback.

Goal 11

Do a Pomodoro workout

Get a timer and do a Pomodoro Technique workout. In the breaks between itera-
tions you can do some of the activities you’ve learned thus far in the book. Table
4, An Example Pomodoro Workout, on page 10 shows an example plan. It includes
four iterations with three breaks for a total of two hours.

2. Too much sitting: a novel and important predictor of chronic disease risk? [OBB09]

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 • 10

Work Break Duration

Write code (sitting desk) 25 min
Walk stairs 5 min
Fix bugs (standing desk) 25 min
Nerve-gliding 5 min
Refactor code (sitting 25 min
desk with exercise ball)
Curl-ups 5 min
Code review (standing 25 min
desk with balance board)
Push-ups 5 min
TOTAL 2 hours
Table 4—An Example Pomodoro Workout
You can make your Pomodoro Technique workout any length you’d like, and
you can do it at any time of day. You can also fill your breaks with whatever
activity you prefer. Some people prefer to only walk during their breaks. Later
in the book you’ll learn some more exercises that you can add to your
workouts.

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