I wanted to discuss a topic I don’t see readily talked about in Forex trading, and that is Mental/Physical health. In order to Consistently profit from the markets, you need to be in sound physical and especially sound mental health. I am within 6 months of making the transition to Full time trading and have been profitable consistently now. One thing you need to consider is how to limit your time on the screens and how to stay healthy. Some thoughts:
As you get better at trading/investing and start generating more of your income from this, the pressure increases
You tend to get immersed in this business and forget about basic mental/physical upkeep
Lack of sleep due to stresses of trading
The best way I’ve found to try and combat this, and I use the word TRY as I’m still working on it, is to put together a daily schedule on paper/calendar. Just like a successful trading strategy, you need to follow rules to ensure you have the mental focus capabilities to trade successfully. Some Best practices I have:
Set specific trading Business times and DON’T DEVIATE. It’s natural to want to be always connected, especially if you are profitable. Set parameters
Document your sleep times. No waking up to trade in the middle of the night
Exercise
Completely Unplug on the Weekends. Even Warren Buffett and George Soros talk about the importance of leisure time.
Getting in a good routine will allow you to successfully trade for the long term. Hope this helps and I am open to anyone that has some great best practices for this.
There is clearly a two-way relationship between mental and physical well-being . I prefer to use the word “well-being” rather than “health”. One affects the other in almost all walks of life, I think. And taking care of both is indeed a very important issue. So this is a good and important topic!
Humans are mostly creatures of habit and setting routines is a very effective way of managing one’s input to achieving balance between these two areas. On the other hand, a too restrictive timetable can create a lot of pressures of its own!
For me, one important criterion in managing trading stress is not to focus on the profit line. My key focus is on complying with my strategy and setting realistic stop/targets and position size. This way, I am not bothered by the risk of losses nor stressed by the risk of losing profits. I know when I set the trade what the outcome scenarios are and I also know that the underlying strategy works in the long run. So no individual trade is going to damage my peace of mind.
Equally, one needs to find a balance between all aspects of life and know what one wants to achieve. Families, locations, employment, leisure time, etc all need to be put into perspective and kept alive.
Too much obsession with trading leads to a narrow world and inevitably a reduction in happiness and achievement in other important areas.
There is much more here to talk about, I hope others are interested!
I was gone for like a couple of days and I come back to a lot of interesting topics!
I’m sure that different traders have different ways of coping with the stresses of trading. You’ve actually given interesting ones yourself @CrisValenciana! I think it’s gonna be great to hear what others have to say too! With that said, I guess it’s pretty obvious that I’m a very emotional person. (LOL) And although I’m trying to control that side of me, I still find myself really down and depressed whenever I encounter consecutive losses. And I believe that whenever the mind weakens, the body follows suit.
Which is why I really look forward to what the others have to say about this too!
I agree with you ria_rose. Its hard to block those emotional tendancies out on losers and also winners. Looking at trades objectively and as part of your plan like Manxx stated I think helps cope with the emotional roller coaster. It’s interesting too, when you get too involved in the markets and don’t protect your well being, we tend to trade much worse and make mistakes.
This is a routine I’ve come up with that I try to follow. Admittedly I don’t always follow the sleep schedule but it’s a good framework I feel. Hope at least one person can get value from this:
Hey guys.
Wow. Some very good points here!
I definitely think there’s a direct correlation between our physical and mental states. I think one feeds off the other.
In order to get going physically, the mind is the one that tells the body what you’re going to do. And then when the body gets regenerated and in better shape, that in turn produces a better mind. Around and around it goes. All things are growing and getting better.
And I totally agree with you, Cris, that we need rules in place to keep things in motion.
And Manxx makes a great point also, in that a too restrictive timetable can cause undue pressures.
I guess we need regiment along with flexibility. And when I think about it, I guess we invariably need to be seeing some progress. I don’t know about you, but when I see good results, that motivates me even more. But, what about less progress? Maybe that’s the time that things need tweeking, or changed a bit.
Man, for me, I wish the physical part would affect the mental part more. Cause I don’t have a problem getting the body to move and into shape. I just wish the mental part would progress more. Kind of like, I can change the way I look & feel much more easily than making the mental part smarter. Know what I mean? Seeing physical change, for me, is way more easier than seeing mental change.
But then again, just because I can’t see the mental changes, does that necessarily mean that I’m not changing, internally?
I don’t know.
But this is definitely an interesting topic nonetheless.
Apparently it can have some side effects for some people, but I would assume that they’re probably taking too much of it.
It’s recommended that you take 0.3 to 0.5mg at most per day, and yet a lot of the stores sell doses ranging from 3mg to 10mg. I started out using 10mg doses, and I had some side effects after the second or third day (waking up in the middle of the night extremely anxious, and waking up feeling groggy the next day).
Once I cut my dosage down dramatically, I had absolutely no problem with it
Took some R&R this weekend. Even Soros states you need leisure time.(Politics aside he is a great trader). One thing I’ll share with the group is most significant moves and volitility are at the opening of the new session. To cut your screen time, I would focus on these areas Tokyo open, London Open, US Open. Establishing a schedule around London open (My preferred trading time) will hopefully get me some better sleep tonight. Big_Boss, I will try some melatonin this week, appreciate the input.
One question for the group to consider as more of a “food for thought” How much time do you spend researching fundamentals compared to watching charts? I think you’ll be shocked at how little many spend building good reasons to trade as opposed to the act of trading.
Thanks for sharing a nice post. It will definitely help the new babies in the forex market. I also believe the fact that a forex trader will require both the strength of physics and mind. In combination a trader will require good deal of patience and hard work with the right adoption of trading methods.
Thanks for the excellent advice.
I have long tried to make sure that I have time to rest and unwind in between trading sessions, because I quickly realized that if I am not in top physical and emotional condition when trading my results suffered.
Hi.
I just read something good. And this thread came to mind. So, I just have to put this out there.
"Josh Waitzkin is considered by many to be one of the leading authorities in the world on the topics of learning and high performance. As a child he was a chess prodigy. He then became a world champion in Tai Chi and then became a world champion is Jiu Jitsu.
In an interview with fellow Chess master and educator, Adam Robinson, Waitzkin was asked how he could master two radically different domains — chess which is highly mental, and Tai Chi, which is highly physical. Waitzkin explained that at the highest level, mental ability is enhanced through deep somatic awareness. Your body and mind are highly connected. Moreover, if you learn the principles of learning and embrace the learning process — which is highly emotional — you can learn things which seem highly counter-intuitive to your “innate” abilities."
Well, why not give you the whole article. This is the stuff that I love to read…
Thank you for posting this Mike. Too many aspiring traders forget basics like health. This is an important factor in success as things like lack of sleep and lack of exercise can impact performance
I believe health comes first. Rest can wait. If you are not healthy and strong in your mind and body then how can you expect to do well in trading, or anything else for that matter.
Chris, couldn’t agree more. I’ve been trading full time for the last 6 months and have a regime where I do physical training 5 times a week. Such has been my dedication to this, I have lost over 2 stone, lost over 12% body fat and am doing a Personal Trainer course (for fun). As a result of this, I feel that I am a much better trader, able to deal with the stresses (physically, mentally and emotionally) that working the forex market throws at me.
I’ve noticed that after jogging my trading performance considerably improve. I explain this getting rid of excessive stress which is rising during trading.
You’ve actually given interesting ones yourself 
I think it’s gonna be great to hear what others have to say too! 
