DEV Community

Discussion on: What are your tips for avoiding burnout?

Collapse
 
mikengarrett profile image
Mike 🤘

A healthy lifestyle can be minimized, but it must not be eliminated.

I've found that I need at least 4 hours of sleep to function the next day (2 REMs).
I'm most efficient when I take a short break to walk and stretch every 3-4 hours.
Eating healthy makes a huge difference to me. Often a vegetable-based meal will do more than a pot of coffee, especially for lunch.
If you're getting stuck, switch to a different task or take a walk to allow your brain some time to break out of the loop.
Make sure your workstation is configured to be ergonomically efficient. Herman Miller has a good amount of public content on the topic: hermanmiller.com/research/topics/e...
Get familiar with the warning signs of burnout in yourself and tackle them when they first appear. It's better to take time off to sleep, eat, workout, socialize, etc to allow you to recharge and start back over than it is to recover from total burnout.

Everyone is built different, so take my insight with a grain of salt.