[profpandit]

Well, mental health has always been and will continue to be an issue that needs to be addressed in the workplace. This is because the workplace now is at least half composed of programming related tasks. Programming is such a mentally tasking task due to the need to get everything just right to get your computer to do what you want with it, that the fallout from it could be compared to a hangover. Your mental faculties do get tired by the process of programming leaving you in the lurch when you step outside that mental zone, and making you susceptible to attacks on issues unrelated to programming, that many managers and other people that don't exercise their mental faculties enough tend to indulge in. As a programmer, it's just as important to learn what to do outside of your programming related tasks, specially ways to relax and rejuvenate your mental faculties. If you don't do this, you'll burn yourself out leaving you susceptible to mental disease.

[id_rsa]

I agree with what you are saying. I am having trouble finding tasks that rejuvenate my mental facilities. What works for you?

[profpandit]

Exercise. Cooking. Sketching. Paying attention to grooming. Practicing ignoring people as much as possbile in public. Reducing the amount of information I process outside of programming. --> Not using a smartphone. Using public transport. Minimizing internet use, no social media. Walking as much as possible to help slow things down. Consciously taking breaks from mental work, instead of just getting absorbed in a programming task. The equivalent of interval training. its possible to strengthen your ability to focus while you program through interval training. Observing nature, such as bird-watching, wind conditions, cloud formations etc.