Understanding Circadian Rhythms for Shift Workers

Speaker 1 0:01

A topic that I've wanted to cover for an awful long time has been circadian rhythms . We hear about circadian rhythms all the time , but do you really understand exactly what a circadian rhythm is and how it impacts us in our shift working life ? Well , in today's episode , it's all about circadian rhythms . Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be Come to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified Nutritionist , veteran Law Enforcement Officer and 24-7 Shift Worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers , using evidence-based methods , to not only survive the rigours of shift work but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and wellbeing so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show and welcome to today's episode of a healthy shift podcast . I get great pleasure in welcoming you to the show and thank you so much for joining in . In today's episode I want to discuss everything circadian rhythms , which , the more we understand circadian rhythms , the more we build a foundation for actually thriving in shift work . So today I'm delving into a really crucial topic that forms the cornerstone of our wellbeing as shift workers , and that is our circadian rhythm . The more we understand them . The more we work with them , the better we feel , the less brain fog and the less fatigue that we suffer from . But before I get into today's show , I'm going to ask you again please . I haven't had any reviews for quite some time on the podcast . I would really appreciate it if you could actually , on Apple , go back to the main page and then scroll down to the very bottom , give it a five star review and just take 30 seconds or a minute just to write a few words to help somebody else following it . And , on Spotify , go back to the main page . There's three dots there . You can hit it and you'll see where the actual , you can give it a rating , and I would greatly appreciate if you could do that . All right , that's out of the way .

Speaker 1 2:24

Circadian rhythms Circadian rhythm is a circuit DM is a Latin which stands for about a day , and that's where the term circadian rhythm comes from , because our circadian rhythm runs for approximately 24 hours . So what exactly are circadian rhythms ? Well , my fellow shift workers , it's essential . It's essentially your body's internal clock . Consider it as your body's conductor , orchestrating a sympathy , a symphony of biological processes throughout the day as well as throughout the night . Now , it is a series of internal biological clocks that regulate our bodies functions over roughly a 24-hour cycle . Now , these rhythms influence everything from our sleep-weight patterns to our metabolism , our hormone production and even cognitive performance . So this is where and why we suffer from such digestive issues when we are eating overnight , and this is also why we can't think straight during the day . When we're on night shift and our metabolism slows right down , we have all sorts of problems , and this is literally due to desynchronization of what our eyes are actually seeing compared to what our circadian rhythm is running internally . Now , our circadian rhythm regulates when we actually feel awake , when we feel alert , when we start to wind down for sleep . It's literally like a dance between hormones , body temperature and other physiological functions that follow a 24-hour cycle .

Speaker 1 4:02

Now , what are the signs behind circadian rhythms ? So let's get into the nitty-gritty of it , and I'm not going to go into massive amounts of detail . I'm going to keep this as high level as I can possibly keep it for you , so that you can easily understand it . Now , at the core of our circadian rhythm is the suprachiasmatic nucleus . Now , this is a small region in our brain , which is literally behind the eyes , that acts as our master clock . It is known as our master clock and it is activated and responds to the cues from light exposure which comes through our eyes , through sensors within our eyes , and it indicates to us when it's getting light , so it understands where it's at in time and space . Now what this actually does is it helps us desynchronize our internal clocks with the external world . Now , every single cell in our body has a biological clock in it . Every single cell , whether it's your heart , your liver , your digestive tract , any single cell in your body has its own clock . Now what I want to do is to give you a really good idea of what it looks like . I'll give you an analogy of how it performs .

Speaker 1 5:21

So if you imagine your suprachiasmatic nucleus , which is your body's master clock , that's the conductor of an orchestra . So what it's doing is it's setting the time for everything in our body . So he's conducting and everybody is playing the music , so all the cells are all playing to what the conductor is actually doing . Now this is what happens for a normal 9-5er that is getting earlier light , getting light during the day , and then it starts to get dark at night and the suprachiasmatic nucleus starts to recognize that it's getting darker . So it switches from that night mode sorry , that day mode into that night mode , releases melatonin and that melatonin is what actually , which is a sleep hormone , starts to trigger the sleep process and that's why we start to get tired around 9pm at night , 9am to 10pm . So in the morning , when we get that early light , what it does is the orchestra or the conductor actually is telling the body because it's getting those light signals , it's telling the body that it's time to start producing those daytime hormones , suppressing the nighttime hormones , and away our body goes and it starts functioning .

Speaker 1 6:40

So what actually occurs as a shift worker ? Well , I'll tell you , because while we're on night shift and we are getting that artificial light , we're not getting the proper light , we're not getting the light at the lux that we actually need . We're moving around , our body gets very , very confused as to where it is . So what I can liken that to is if you imagine , the suprachiasmatic nucleus is actually the conductor and he's conducting because he's getting light , but what's happened is all the clock in the external cells of the body are all following the rhythm internally and the conductor is trying to work out what's going on . And what I would liken this to is the conductor is conducting one piece of music , but all the different cells and all the clocks in the different cells are actually playing their own piece of music . So when we actually eat Between midnight and 6 am , when our body is resting and digesting , you're waking those clocks up and you're forcing the clocks to try and do , to try and digest food and process food and metabolize food overnight , but the master clock is actually going . No , this is not what we should be doing at this time , and that is where the desynchronization occurs .

Speaker 1 7:59

Bear in mind , it's called social jet lag . It's because it's different to what the eyes are seeing compared to what the body is actually functioning , and I think that's probably one of the best ways to try and describe a circadian rhythm that our internal body clock is the orchestra conductor . Everything needs to be in sync for harmony in our bodies , all right , so what is the impact of shift work on circadian rhythms ? So , as season shift workers , we all know firsthand just how challenging it can be to maintain a consistent circadian rhythm . A regular work hours disrupt this natural cycle , which leads into a cascade of effects of health and well-being . It causes sleep disturbances , it causes digestive issues and it even causes us mood swings due to hormonal imbalances , the toll really is quite significant .

Speaker 1 8:54

Now , if we look at people who travel , when we travel and we've all suffered from jet lag our body catches up , and the reason why our body catches up is because it starts to get the light signal at the same time every day . We eat at the same time every day and we're moving early because when we're on holiday , we are up and about and we are moving around and we are eating at our generally breakfast , lunch and dinner time . So our body learns that this is the new time zone and switches to it . But as poor shift workers are doing an afternoon , then we're doing a day shift , then we're doing a swing shift and then we're on a day shift , then we're on an afternoon shift , and our poor body clock literally has absolutely no idea what to do . So let's have a look at some evidence based strategies to support circadian rhythms Now .

Speaker 1 9:45

The good news is there are actually evidence based strategies that we can implement that will help us to mitigate the effects of a regular shift work on our circadian rhythm . Now . These include strategic exposure to light , we need to optimize our sleep environment and we need to adopt tailored nutrition plans designed for shift workers , not nine to fives and , as a shift workers , it needs to be designed for shift workers so that we are getting the right nutrients in at the right time , so that we are still fueling our bodies . So let's get to the actionable part , and how can we thrive as shift workers despite challenging our circadian rhythm every 24 hours ? First number one , as per always , and my number one pillar of health , is we've got to prioritize sleep . I can't begin to tell you the importance of how important it is that we make the sleep environment dark , quiet . We need to keep a consistent sleep schedule . Even on our days off , we still need to get up early , get that daylight and get going through the day so that we can sleep properly again that night .

Speaker 1 10:59

Now I've done a whole podcast on what on earth do you mean by consistent sleep ? I've done shift work , remember . I've done shift work for 39 years , so I totally understand how this can work . So don't call me out on it , because we can . We are being lazy buggers and the problem that we do have is we are classic self sabotages by lounging around because we feel tight quotation mark and we feel tight and we feel fatigued and we feel brain fogged because we are out of sync with our circadian rhythm . But the quicker we can get back into sync with it through light and dark cycles , the better we actually feel . Now I've had hundreds of clients that I have literally helped with this getting that regular sleep , getting up , dragging their sorry butt out of bed , getting up , getting out , going for a walk and all of a sudden they are thriving . I've got clients that couldn't find time to walk , to registering for half marathons , people that are now running , people that are going to the gym three , four times a week , people that get up and go and do yoga pilates . I've got people that are literally thriving purely by learning and understanding how to work with this circadian rhythm . And that's the first one light , dark for that sleep . We need that sleep , all right .

Speaker 1 12:20

The second thing is to watch your diet . Now we all know that what you eat can seriously impact on your circadian rhythm . So be very mindful of when and what you eat during your shift . Now the research is telling us that we are best to stick to what is a normal breakfast , lunch and dinnertime During the biological day . Now the biological day is between 6 am and 9 pm , and I think if you would not think , I know that if we stick to eating roughly at breakfast time and a snack , and roughly at lunchtime and a snack and then roughly at dinnertime , not only do we keep ourselves really well satiated and not feel like eating overnight , but we can resist eating overnight from 9 pm to 6 am and therefore we give our body the rest that it is craving . At that point . We can't be digesting food all the time , and when we digest food overnight , our body is very , very inefficient at metabolizing that food . So we need to resist the temptation of actually eating overnight . All right .

Speaker 1 13:34

The next thing is , finally , is not to forget about physical activity and our mental wellbeing , right ? So , regular exercise , and I call it exercise , but you know as well as I do that I don't like to use the term exercise , I like to call it movement . I have found that with my shift working clients that just by getting up and just going for a walk and just getting a gentle walk has made such a massive difference to their life in the morning . Now , this is very important for our mental health as well , because research also shows that being vertical and in a forward motion is actually really good for our mental health . I really encourage people to get up , get out in the light and just take yourself for a walk around the block a few times . To start with , listen to a good podcast I know where there's a good one and you will find that that will make an enormous difference to literally just how you feel .

Speaker 1 14:33

And if you start to get tired late in the afternoon and at nighttime , go to bed . That's what it's doing . That's the melatonin onset . It's important to get that sleep and stay in sync . You are doing lots and lots of damage to yourself by actually lying around or staying inside and not getting that natural light . All right , that's a wrap for today .

Speaker 1 14:58

I just wanted to keep this really , really short so that there's not an information overload . The key is to stay in line with our circadian rhythm , with its light and dark cycle , with our nutrient timing , which is the other cue , and the other cue is movement . And get up and get that light and go for that walk early and you will reduce that brain fog and you will reduce that fatigue , because we think we're too tired to go for a walk , but it's not going for the walk that's actually impacting on that desynchronized circadian rhythm . Alright . So remember , understanding and respecting your circadian rhythm is literally the cornerstone of surviving shift work . By incorporating evidence-based strategies into your routine , you're taking a really powerful step towards reclaiming your energy and vitality . So stay committed to nourishing your body and prioritizing your wellbeing and , as always , please remember to be patient and kind to yourself as you navigate the challenges of shift work and prioritize your mental health and wellbeing .

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Speaker 1 16:09

Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you want to know more about me or work with me , you can go to Ahealthyshiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .