I have felt this for some time now, but my experience over the last four months along with a poll I viewed today on TechRepublic, brought this all into focus for me. Developers, in general, are living lives that are hardly what one would call balanced and healthy.

Drinking gallons of coffee to stay awake, all though not everything about coffee is bad, and sleeping a ridiculous small number of hours at night to make that deadline. It is generally in our nature to spend large amounts of time sitting in front of the computer following the latest breaking news story, playing with the latest release or developing something out of need or just because we want to try something, explore something, improve something….

These hours spent in front of the computer is good exercise for our brains and feeds our souls but only to a certain extent where I feel we are doing more bad then good when it comes to our personal life and health.Repetitive strain injuries are something that is very common but often mis diagnosed or simply ignored, and then there is your posture, we have all seen the evolution of man.

I believe we need to find a balance between work, play, family and spirituality to come to a place where we are happier and more productive developers. I know for a fact that with as little as 30 minutes of exercise, a good six to seven hours a day of exercise and a healthy balanced diet, I am much more productive, inspired and creative the the opposite.

So why am I writing all this stuff, which is pretty of topic to what I usually write about? Well, it is because I have decided that, starting today, I am going to start changing my lifestyle for the better and I want as many developers as possible to join me. I have joined SparkPeople (ossreleasefeed) and have created the team Developers Are People Too, so why not join me and let us challenge each other in another realm of life to create a more balanced life. I look forward to seeing you all there and reading your comments.