The Positive Benefits of Exercise for Traders

[Trendup_ 10]

I'd say, not breathing could be the most detrimental mistake for us traders.

Often,I find myself in apnea and have to adjust my respiration.

[phantom 16]

I live in a town that is 7000 ft above sea level, so the winters are a bitch. When its cold, I use my rowing machine and do upside down situps on my inversion table. I also do 100 rep stints with my jump rope.

In the summer I get out on the golf course as much as possible as well as do 20-30 minute speed walks. I also play basketball as much as 3 times a week.

At Christmas time I bought a pullup bar that attaches to my bedroom door and now I'm doing that, too.

At my age (52) its easy to talk myself out of getting out of my trading chair, but I force the issue. So I know how everyone feels...

Fortunately, my youngest son is 7 years old, so when I see him, we are constantly on-the-go. Baseball, golf, hoops, that sort of thing.

All the roadblocks to a healthy lifestyle are inside my head, that's for sure...

[khamore1 10]

I’m not sure if this is the right thread for my problem but I thought I will give it a try since it about trading and health

 

I watch my computer an average of 12 hours a day I start feeling pain in my eyes checking with a doctor I found out I have high pressure in both eyes

 

I wear glare protective eye glasses and use medication to help me relieve the pain anyone has the same problem? How do you protect your eyes?

[TimRacette 11]

Ya I used to wake up for the Euro Open and trade the full NYSE session. 12-16 hour days in front of the screen takes its tole and frankly, lead me to getting a bit burned out. I've since dialed it back a bit most notably, if the markets slow down around lunch time and don't pick back up I will stop for the day. If the market conditions are great and setups are working well I continue to trade.

[Obsidian 10]

  khamore1 said:

How do you protect your eyes?

 

train a couple of traders and let them do the work

or lower the brightness and look at far distances to rest your eyes sometimes

[zdo 20]

  khamore1 said:

I’m not sure if this is the right thread for my problem but I thought I will give it a try since it about trading and health

 

I watch my computer an average of 12 hours a day I start feeling pain in my eyes checking with a doctor I found out I have high pressure in both eyes

 

I wear glare protective eye glasses and use medication to help me relieve the pain anyone has the same problem? How do you protect your eyes?

 

Yep next time start a separate thread. thx

 

Consider adding the various known eye nutrients – lutein, etc

Not as directly related but I personally would up dosing of astaxanthin !

 

Consider herbals … high quality coleus forskohli (sp?) is the only one that pops into my head right now…

 

...basically find what works for you ... and work on getting off the prescription as soon as possible...

 

plus high quality soft sensimilia cannib buds

:rofl:

just joking… not really recommending it (unless you have other conditions that makes it worthwhile to damage your soul…)

(taking at least one day a week off from all of them, btw)

 

hth

all the best,

zdo

[Kiwi 16]

Don't watch it continuously.

 

I've found that I can determine that there can't be a qualified setup in less than X bars so I now set a timer, disengage, do a few press-ups or something and then come back in a better state.

 

The timer is important at least for me. Use a kitchen timer or something like Easy Timer which is an analogue clock in the corner of my screen with an easy timer setting.

 

.

[PipNut 10]

  khamore1 said:

I’m not sure if this is the right thread for my problem but I thought I will give it a try since it about trading and health

 

I watch my computer an average of 12 hours a day I start feeling pain in my eyes checking with a doctor I found out I have high pressure in both eyes

 

I wear glare protective eye glasses and use medication to help me relieve the pain anyone has the same problem? How do you protect your eyes?

 

Not sure of the background colour of your charts but if they are white try changing them to black and adjusting the other feature colours accordingly. Hope this is helpful sorry if its not

[khamore1 10]

MONDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- For better health, try standing up more, a new study suggests. Those who spend 11 or more hours a day sitting are 40 percent more likely to die over the next three years regardless of how physically active they are otherwise, researchers say.

 

Analyzing self-reported data from more than 222,000 people aged 45 and older, Australian researchers found that mortality risks spike after 11 hours of total daily sitting but are still 15 percent higher for those sitting between 8 and 11 hours compared to those sitting fewer than 4 hours per day.

 

"The evidence on the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting has been building over the last few years," said study author Hidde van der Ploeg, a senior research fellow at the University of Sydney. "The study stands out because of its large number of participants and the fact that it was one of the first that was able to look at total sitting time. Most of the evidence to date had been on the health risks of prolonged television viewing."

 

The study is published in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

 

Average adults spend 90 percent of their leisure time sitting down, van der Ploeg said, and fewer than half meet World Health Organization recommendations for 150 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity each week.

 

The data was collected as part of Australia's 45 and Up Study, a large, ongoing study of healthy aging. Strikingly, the elevated risks for dying from all causes remained even after taking into account participants' physical activity, weight and health status.

 

Sixty-two percent of participants said they were overweight or obese (a similar proportion to Americans), while nearly 87 percent said they were in good to excellent health, and one-quarter said they spent at least 8 hours each day sitting.

 

Inactive participants who sat the most had double the risk of dying within three years compared to active people who sat least, van der Ploeg said, and among physically inactive adults, those who sat the most had nearly one-third higher odds of dying than those who sat least.

 

Because many people must sit for long hours at their jobs, they should make sure a greater portion of their leisure time is spent standing, walking or engaging in other movement, said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association.

 

"Yes, you have to work, but when you go home it's so important you don't go back to sitting in front of the computer or television," Steinbaum said. "After the 8-hour mark, the risks go up exponentially. It's really about what you're doing in your leisure time and making the decision to move."

 

Several workplaces in Australia are testing sit-stand work stations, van der Ploeg said -- a generally well-received initiative that may be a future option for other offices. "Try ways to break up your sitting and add in more standing or walking where possible," she suggested.

 

While the study uncovered an association between total sitting hours and death risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

 

The study was limited by the relatively short follow-up period of less than three years, experts said, which may have obscured undiagnosed health problems among participants that could have led to earlier death. Dr. David Friedman, chief of heart failure services at North Shore Plainview Hospital in Plainview, N.Y., said those who sit longer "tend to be sicker, have obesity issues and cardiovascular problems. Perhaps they're less ambulatory in the first place."

 

Van der Ploeg acknowledged these limitations and said more studies will need to replicate the findings and focus more on sitting's influence on developing conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

 

"Studies that measure sitting time with activity monitors instead of questionnaires will also help build the evidence base," she said. "All these studies will further inform us of the exact relationship between sitting and health conditions, which ultimately will result in public health recommendations like we already have for physical activity."

[Xiao si 10]

I'm now back to walking in the morning and already i find I'm sleeping better at night. Lately i am spending allot of time at the PC and i worry about too much time sitting. I get up frequently though and move around and stretch.

 

There are many careers where sitting for prolonged periods is part of the job. I feel bad for truck drivers and pilots!

 

XS

[karoshiman 10]

As this thread title is somewhat neutral (just talking about "positive benefits"), I'd like to add one further aspect in addition to the health-related comments to which I agree 100%.

 

I was a competitive athlete a few years back and hence, I am used to working in a structured manner towards my goals, which was at that time to increase my performance at sports.

 

After an extended break of several years from working out (as I thought the workouts just steal time that I could use to work more on my corporate career) I've started to work out again regularly in the gym about 6 years ago. As I am not the kind of person who does something just for a hobby I've used a very structured approach to my workouts, with the plan to increase my strength and my muscle size constantly (without the use of drugs, of course).

 

So, I've started right away to keep a journal and notes on every exercise I was doing - as this was the natural for me to do - so that I could review my strength and the respective repetitions at each exercise. I would then adjust my training to provide for the weaker body parts, etc.

 

Anyway, when I struggled with my trading I wasn't keeping a journal about my trades as I was too lazy. Also, trading has so many different variables to take care of, that this for itself is overwhelming for a beginning trader. There is also very few useful guidance as to how to succeed with this. A journal is (unfortunately!) the least you think of at the beginning.

 

But then one day I realized the parallel to my workouts. After I've realized this parallel it was much easier for me to start approaching my trading in a more structured manner and to analyze my past performance for improvement potential.

 

I guess this relates not only to exercise. We all might have experiences in our lives from which we can "steal" the one or other idea in order to improve our trading. But I have taken from my exercising this positive benefit in addition to the health benefits.

 

Regards,

k

[TimRacette 11]

  Xiao si said:

I'm now back to walking in the morning and already i find I'm sleeping better at night. Lately i am spending allot of time at the PC and i worry about too much time sitting. I get up frequently though and move around and stretch.

 

There are many careers where sitting for prolonged periods is part of the job. I feel bad for truck drivers and pilots!

 

XS

 

Try switching out your chair for an exercise ball. I've been using one as my 'desk chair' for years.

[Trin 10]

For positive benefits of exercise, the obvious ones are better health and reduced stress. Simply staying "consistent" and "discipline" to a a exercise routine can translate over into ones trading routine.

[TheNegotiator 13]

  Trin said:

For positive benefits of exercise, the obvious ones are better health and reduced stress. Simply staying "consistent" and "discipline" to a a exercise routine can translate over into ones trading routine.

 

Definitely. The trick is how to get going though.