Impact of Social Jet Lag, Jet Lag, and Shift Work

Speaker 1 0:01

Social jet lag , jet lag and shift work . They all have one thing in common In today's episode , I'm gonna look at all three of them and I'm gonna explain to you exactly why they occur and what there is that we can do to combat each and every one of them . Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified nutritionist , veteran law enforcement officer and 24 seven shift worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers , using evidence-based methods , to not only survive the rigors 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 . Welcome to another episode of a healthy shift , the podcast . I get great pleasure in welcoming you to the show and thank you so much for joining me . Now . I'm your host , roger Sutherland , and I'm dedicated to helping shift workers reclaim their health and vitality .

Speaker 1 1:18

Today , I would really like to discuss social jet lag , jet lag and shift work and why it is that causes them all . What is it that's causing that problem ? So , first of all , why do all three of these impact on us . Just so much . It's an interesting one , isn't it ? Because we've all traveled , so we all know what it's like , we've all got to the weekend and we wanna have a sleep in , and for you shift workers that are listening , well , you just know what it's like to have permanent jet lag , permanent social jet lag , and it's all just a massive problem . But I think that what we need to do to explain all of these is just to go into the basic biology of why it is that it actually occurs . So let's get to the root cause of the problem . To properly explain this and what it is . Is it circadian disruption ? So what is circadian disruption ?

Speaker 1 2:15

Well , our circadian rhythm is our internal body clock , which sits in the brain and it's only about the size of a pinhead behind the eyes . And it's there for a reason it's behind the eyes because it is responding to light and dark signals . Now , it sits above the optic chiasm , which is literally like optic nerves that are coming from behind the eyes and they cross over , and it sits literally just above there . So as that light enters your eye , so it triggers what is known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus , which is the SCN , and that is our clock and it goes hey , it's daytime . So therefore , by seeing that ambient light , it starts to shut down the processes in the body that are associated with nighttime and it gets us going during the day and therefore , when it starts to get dark and our body starts to register that it's getting dark through our eyes , so of course it shuts down the day processes . It starts with the onset of melatonin , so it triggers the it's of the pineal gland , which is where the melatonin comes from , and it tells it that , okay , we're getting ready for sleep now because it's dark ton .

Speaker 1 3:32

Now , the circadian rhythm , or the SCN in our brain is actually the central pacemaker of our circadian timing system and it is regulating most of the rhythms within our body . It is like the conductor , and I've discussed this at great length before on other podcasts . What it does is it resets and it regulates our body to those light and dark signals , as I have actually just explained , and that's why it is important that we don't get that light into our eyes outside of what is known as the biological date , which is generally from around about six am in the morning until about nine pm at night . So jet lag , social jet lag and shift work all disrupt this natural rhythm and we know why , and the reason being is because of the light signals into our eyes at the wrong time . So let's start with a simple example , and the simple example is I'll talk about social jet lag to start off with , because every single one of them of them of us have all suffered from social jet lag at some particular point in our life . Now , social jet lag occurs when what we're actually seeing doesn't align with what our body is actually normally used to . So I'll give you an example . So what I've done is I'm a nine to five and I generally sleep normal times and we get up and we go to work and we come home and we go to bed .

Speaker 1 5:06

We get up , we go to work , we come home and we're in normal routine . But then we get to Friday night and what we decide to do is we're going to go out late and we're going to go to a party , or we're going to go to the movies , or we're going to sit up and binge watch something on Netflix , or there's some special sporting event that's on late at night . So what we actually do is we're sitting there and we're watching that on the TV . Now we're normally used to going to bed at a particular time and our body anticipates that and it expects it . But what we're actually getting is we're getting a , these beads of ambient light into our eyes , which is confusing the circadian clock as to what time it should actually be at . Where should I be ? I'm confused , I've got no idea . But then what we do is when we go to bed , we're tired and we sleep , no problems . But then what we want to do is we want to keep sleeping .

Speaker 1 6:00

I've had a busy week . What I'm going to do is I'm going to have a lie and I'm going to catch up on sleep . And for those that have followed me for any period of time , you know you cannot catch up on sleep . You can't bank it . It's not something that banks . The more you stay out of sync with that circadian rhythms normal cycle , the worse you are . So what happens is , if you are this nine to five , that is working . Nine to five .

Speaker 1 6:27

A classic example a teenager has got to go to school . So they get up early Monday , tuesday , wednesday , thursday , friday to go to school . But you be , we have no school on Saturday . So I'm going to go out late with my mates on Friday night , and then I'm going to have a big sleep in until lunchtime on Saturday , and then what I'm going to do is , because I've got no school on Sunday , I'm going to go out late again on Saturday night and I'm going to have a big sleep in on Sunday , and then what happens is on Monday , when I've got to go to school , I have to break into that sleep on Monday morning because I've already started to adjust my circadian rhythm . So I've got to break into that sleep and then I've got to get up and get going . Hence the reason why we feel so God damn awful and we have what we call Monday artists .

Speaker 1 7:18

We have literally screwed around with our circadian rhythm over the weekend by sleeping in to catch up on sleep , as I do my quote marks with my fingers because we can't catch up on sleep . It's just not something that you can actually do . So what you need to do is you need to stay in sync with your circadian rhythm , or what happens is you end up suffering from what's known as social jet lag , so you're not in line with what you should normally be actually doing , and that's known as social jet lag , all right , so should we sleep in and catch up . No end of story . So how can we combat this ? We just have to stay in sync seven days a week . The more we stay in sync , the better we are . Does this mean we can't have a late night ? No , if you want to have a late night , have a late night , but the thing is you've got to get up early again the next day and get going , because you're only going to throw more confusion into your circadian rhythm . All right , so that's social jet lag .

Speaker 1 8:23

Now , the next thing I want to talk about is jet lag , and I thought about this because I've recently traveled and I went across to Canada and I've spent time in Canada and I can tell you now the impact was quite enormous . First of all , because we were traveling east , and I'll get to that in a minute . But the other thing was we crossed across a date line and traveling east is more difficult . Now jet lag is not just the chronic fatigue from travel Getting to the airport , going through security , sitting on a plane for 10 , 11 hours or whatever . It is going through security at the other end , having to catch trains or Ubers or whatever to get to your accommodation and getting to your accommodation . That is not what's making us tired . What is actually making us tired is the circadian misalignment , because we have totally confused our body . If you think about if you've got a phone that's got a dual time face on it , or a watch , you can actually see what the time is at home , and you'll find that you will get tired around that time that you would normally get tired and you will wake up at the time that you would normally wake up in your home cycle . So that is jet lag and that's what causes your jet lag .

Traveling East vs. Traveling West

Speaker 1 9:39

So is it easier to travel east or is it easier to travel west ? What do you think and why do you think ? And what have you noticed yourself ? Like , we're here in Australia , so we're on our well . People think we've got a tiny little island which purely covers the north of America and the whole of Europe , but anyway , we're isolated down on a little island here , and every time we have to travel somewhere , we need to take long flights and we need to go across numerous time zones . So are we better off traveling west or are we better off traveling east ?

Speaker 1 10:12

When we go somewhere , if we're going to travel east , we're going to go to the US , and is that easier , or is it easier for us to travel west and go to Europe ? Well , I can tell you , it's much easier for us to travel west , and the reason why we travel it's easier for us to travel west is because we're actually traveling back in time , and it's easier for us . We stay in our circadian rhythm , so , as we're adjusting our clocks to the time zone , we're actually going back in time , so it's easier for our to stay within our circadian rhythm . I know this is difficult to explain , but when you travel east , like when you go from Australia to the US , you are actually advancing your clock . You are pulling your clock forward because you are traveling forwards in time , even though you cross the dateline and you go backwards . But the problem is you go so far backwards that you're actually going back a day and you've put yourself in All sorts of problems as far as advancing your time clock goes . So that is why it is , as a general rule , it is easier for us to travel in a westerly direction than it is for us to travel in an easterly direction .

Speaker 1 11:28

So no , what is worth noting is that both eastward and westward travel can also present challenges for people , and the degree of difficulty can also be very dependent on Individual factors in your life as to what you sleep , whether you're a morning light , night owl , what sort of thing ? So that's not a rigid rule . And some people will argue and say , oh no , I travel much better going east , or cute , oh , it's to you . That's fine , you're an individual , but as a general rule , it's much harder for us to travel east . Okay , so , regardless , we've now arrived at our destination . What do we do now ? Have you noticed that when you get to your destination , you feel chronically tight at different times ?

Speaker 1 13:03

Now I explained that . If you go back and look at your watch , you'll realize exactly why you have landed at the . You know You're at a certain time and what you're actually doing is not in line with what you would have been doing if you were still Back in your home time zone and things like that . And you know your digestive tract is literally all over the place . Now we really suffered with this . Going to Canada , we'd be perfectly honest with you for probably a good week . It took a week or so for our Digestive tracks to catch up . We're in the situation where you'd eat , you'd get pain , you'd want to go to the bathroom , you , it was just all over the place , no idea at all . We also . You suffer from headache , from dizziness , your hunger because you're tired . So your hunger hormones are all over the place with your leptin and your ghrelin , and these are the things that Impact that you notice . It's not just because you've traveled and you're tired , it's because you are completely at a sink with your circadian rhythm .

Speaker 1 14:01

Now Can you prepare before you go ? Yes , you absolutely can , and there's apps around that will assist you to do that . One of those apps is called Time Shifter , and Time Shifter will actually give you a strategy . You can put your flights in it . You can put your All your flights in it . It automatically registers what time it's taking off in what place and what time it's landing in another , and Time shifter will actually tell you when you need caffeine , when you need to cut caffeine , when you need to get light , when you need to Shut down from light , and it will actually slowly transition you from your mother time or your home time to where you are Actually going , and it will do the same thing in reverse as well , so that you can hit the ground running when you actually get home .

Speaker 1 14:47

One of the other things that we did when we were coming home from Canada was we strategically planned to come home from America and stop in Fiji on the way , and the reason why we did this was because we like Fiji and it's sunny and it's warm . But other than that , the good thing about going to Fiji was it's across the dateline and even though from Fiji back to Melbourne , where we live , and it's a five-hour flight , it's only one hour in time difference . So this gave us an opportunity for a week coming back from Canada , to stop in Fiji and adjust . We didn't have to do anything . So what we did was we got up early , we got the early light , we took ourselves for a walk , we ate at breakfast , lunch and dinner time and then we went to bed once it started getting dark and this put us completely back . So as soon as we came home , we hit the ground running because there was only an hour's difference in time and that made a huge difference to us .

Speaker 1 15:46

So consider that on your way home , places that you could stop at if you're travelling . You know , if you're from Australia and you're travelling , have a look at where you can stop at to get to a stage where you can still relax , catch some sun , enjoy some food and just relax before you come home , where there's not too much of a time difference , instead of travelling so far to start off with , even if you do it in stages for a few days . Now , what's the best way to combat jet lag ? This is an interesting one , because I put this into place and if anybody's followed me for any extended period of time , you will totally understand the importance of getting that early light .

Speaker 1 16:26

The best way to combat your time zone combat it is when you land in your new time zone will obviously be dependent on what time you land , whether it's morning , noon , afternoon , night time , whatever but you've got to follow the night and dark light and dark signals , no matter what happens , because this is what puts your system back in . This is what time cues your circadian rhythm . Time cues your biological clock into where you are , and this is the quickest way to do it . So you get that early light . If you land mid-afternoon , you stay awake and then you go to bed at the dark time and you do the best that you can possibly do to relax and get that sleep . If you wake early , get up and get that early light , keep moving all day .

Speaker 1 17:16

The most important thing as well is to make sure that you're putting those meals into your system at the breakfast , lunch and dinner time in the new time zone and doing that and not just having breakfast at 10.30 and lunch at four o'clock in the afternoon and then dinner at 10 o'clock at night , because that's not going to help you in any way whatsoever because that's not the time zone of where you're at . So what you want to be trying to do is having your breakfast at sometime between , say , six and eight and you want to be having your lunch between 12 and two and you want to be having your dinner between say , six and eight o'clock at night . That will then cue your circadian rhythm into where you're at Now , because you've landed in a new time zone and you're getting that light and you're excited with where you're at and you want to go and have a look around . So you will also find that you are actually out and about looking at things . So you're getting that movement as well . So if you're eating at that time at the right times , you're getting the movement and you're getting the light . You are hitting all three of the main seatgevers , which are the time cues for our body to actually put us back into sync as soon as possible with the new time zone that we're at , and that is the best possible advice that I can give you in relation to combating jet lag . Don't get sucked in to having a sleep in the afternoon or , if you're awake , getting up in the middle of the night or anything like that . You need to focus on getting sleep in the dark time , be awake and moving and eating at the right times in the light time . It's end of story and that is that simple and that is how you combat jet lag in the fastest possible way . So let's now move on to shift work .

Speaker 1 19:06

Now , shift work is the opposite to jet lag , isn't it ? Because shift work is something that you can't

Shift Work's Impact on Health

Speaker 1 19:12

get in sync with . You just cannot possibly . It's like having permanent social jet lag , because one minute you're doing this , the next minute you're doing that , and your body is so confused it's got absolutely no idea what it should be doing or how it should be going about it . It's not always possible for us to stay in sync when we're a shift worker , and night shift is a classic example of when that's not possible at all and we just have to suck that up , but when we do day shifts or pm shifts , we can slightly align with the daytime and the nighttime signals , bearing in mind the biological day is from 6am in the morning until 9pm at night , and that's the time that we put the food in , that's the time that we get the light , that's the time that we get the movement , and at night time , that is the time that we don't eat , that is the time that we keep our movement to a minimum or just don't move around too much , or other than just to stretch your legs and move around , and not a time to be exercising , and what we do is we just minimize that food intake as a matter of priority .

Speaker 1 20:25

Why is this important ? It's really important because science clearly shows that a misaligned circadian rhythm directly contributes to weight gain . There's no argument there . It directly contributes to weight gain , obesity , diabetes , also to cardiovascular disease and also to certain cancers as well . It's not good for us , and the reason why it's not good for us is getting light at the wrong time has severe adverse effects on our metabolic health .

Speaker 1 20:55

Now , I've just covered off on all three and I know the shift works only a small one . But if you understand how the circadian rhythm works , then the easier and the more effort that you make to try and stay in line with that circadian rhythm . What we do have to try and do is , on those days off and on that leave that we get , we must get back in sync . We don't stay in the nighttime cycle or sit and watch Netflix until four in the morning . Oh , I'm a shift worker , so this is what I do . You are actually causing yourself a lot more problems and you need to stop doing that and stop doing that straight away . Nothing will beat getting sleep during the biological night . From about 2100 hours or 9 pm at night until six o'clock in the morning is the biological night , and getting that sleep at that time and getting up and getting going during the daytime when it's light is the optimal way for your health , the optimal way for your health . And you are causing yourself all sorts of problems , all sorts of grief , by just continually staying out of sync and not giving that circadian rhythm a chance .

Speaker 1 22:05

If you think about it , it's got no idea when it's got to be releasing the right hormones at the right time . The digestive tract is all over the place . It doesn't know whether it's supposed to be vertical , horizontal . It doesn't know what we're supposed to be doing . So we need to be helping our body for our health . If weight gain is an issue for you , you need to be having a look at what you're actually eating , at when it's not so much what you're eating , it's when you're actually eating it . That's the problem , because if you're eating overnight , then that is causing you problems .

Speaker 1 22:38

End of story , right ? So let's wrap that up , okay ? So we've talked about social jet lag when I gave the example of a teenager . We've talked about jet lag and how to optimize when you land in your new environment , to make sure that you stay in sync with the daytime that's there , light movement and dinner times , and that will help you absolutely no end whatsoever . Trust me , it works . We've just done it and it worked a treat for us .

Speaker 1 23:07

So that's a wrap for today's episode , and I want you to remember , fellow shift workers , your health is absolutely a non-negotiable . It's the foundation that allows you to excel in your career and also to enjoy life beyond the workplace . By taking these evidence based steps , you're not just surviving , you're thriving . So keep pushing forward and remember I'm here to support you every step of the way . 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 . 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 a healthy shiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .