Optimizing Night Shift Navigation

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Navigating the night shift is , without doubt , the most difficult shift of all , and today I bring you part 3 of a 4 part espresso podcast series to help you , in particular , with the night shift . Today we're all about the best way to navigate the days between nights if you are doing more than one night of night shift , so let's go with part 3 . Navigating the nights 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 well being so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show and hello shift workers . I'm your host , roger Sutherland , your guide in evidence based strategies for optimal shift work performance . I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am that you're listening to this episode and I welcome you to the show .

Speaker 1 1:28

Today I'm going to address how to optimize navigating the most difficult shift of all the night shift . And today , in part 3 of this 4 part series , I'm addressing going through the night shift . Now . So far we've covered the optimal way to go into night shift in part 1 and then in part 2 I covered why it's optimal to fast overnight . Now on the overnight fast , you would think I would have mentioned this in part 2 , right ? But just for you , I have created my own free ebook , the Cicadian Fast , and this book is free for you to download and it guides shift workers on what to eat and when and how to structure the overnight fast . Now you can get this book on my website , a healthyshiftcom , or there's even a link to this book in the show notes and it's perfectly free for you , and it's even got a couple of cheeky little recipes in there for you as well that will help you on your night shift . Go and get the book , download it and understand it , because it will make a difference to your shift working life . Now , on episode 2 , we spoke all about the fast and then having a light breakfast upon getting home , so let's just pick it up from there . In fact , let's go back to before that step , because so many people tell me that they have massive trouble sleeping between shifts or , in fact , sleeping during the day and who can blame them . So to highlight this , I just want to run two scenarios by you and I want you to tell me which scenario or incidents in these scenarios do you identify with most ?

Speaker 1 3:16

Scenario 1 , you can't stay awake your own night shift , so you have yourself a coffee at 5am . You knock off work , throw on a coat and you go and get into the car , start the car up , turn the music up . It's doof and away . Doof , doof , doof , doof , doof all the way home to keep you awake . You've got the windows down and it's got you going . You drive home as quick as you can . You get home , go inside , flick on the lights , have a piece of toast with peanut butter , you get undressed , get into bed , you doom scroll . Oh shit , an hour's gone by . You put your phone down , you roll over , then you roll over , and then you roll over again and you toss and turn , or you go straight to sleep and then you wake up about 90 to 120 minutes later . Two hours Busting to go , we and you can't go back to sleep . Scenario one .

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So let's have a look at scenario two . So you finished your caffeine at midnight , as Roger recommends , your hydrate overnight , as Roger recommends . And then what happens is you finish work and you go to the change room and you go and get out of your work clothes , your scrubs or whatever it is , and you change , which puts a barrier in place between you and work . You put your phone on do not disturb , because there's nothing on your phone that you need to see in the next hour . You get to the car , start the car and while you're waiting for the car to warm up because it's been sitting there all night , you put on the blue light blockers that you keep in the car and you take a few deep and deliberate breaths in and long breaths out , a few in and a few out and then what you do is you drive out of the car park and you just Drive home casually and you're eating an apple . I'll give you a hint you can't fall asleep driving while eating an apple . There's the hint for you .

Speaker 1 5:08

You get home , you don't turn the main lights on . You have yourself a small pre prepped overnight oats meal with protein in it . Go and have a hot shower , cleanse of teeth , puts an eye cream and moisturizer on , but you do all this in the dark in the bathroom . It's mind-boggling why we would spend the last bit of our day in the brightest room in the house Before we go to sleep . I'll leave you with that thought as well . You go into your bedroom , pull out the side draw no , you're not reaching for that , you're actually reaching for the lavender spray and you spray , you get into bed , you lie in bed doing some control breathing , you write out three things that you're grateful for , you go to sleep and you stay asleep .

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Now can you see the difference ? Now , I know you might think , oh yeah , but you know that's not how it works . I know it seems happy-clap , it doesn't it ? But how are you travelling with your sleep between nights ? And what are you missing from either of those two scenarios ? And I think we really need to have a look at the way we're approaching it , because poor sleep has plenty of clues , and when I work with one my clients one to one , and we start working on sleep and we start backtracking as to what's occurred overnight , it's generally one of two , of three of , or all of those things that I mentioned in scenario one , and then people can't sleep . It's like driving your car along at 100 kilometres an hour and standing on the brake and expecting it to stop at on a 20 cent piece . It's literally not going to do that . So why would you expect your body to fall asleep when you've not done anything to help it to get there ? So we must really keep that in mind , make it a priority , set yourself up for it . That's called sleep hygiene , and when you've got a really good sleep hygiene in place , a routine for preparing for and going to sleep , your body will actually take care of the rest . Mark my words Now sleep must be a priority , and preparing for sleep is absolutely essential . We literally program our body by going through a particular routine that we are actually getting ready for sleep . It's also important that we have the products that we need or we set ourselves up for sleep as well .

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Have you got full block out blinds or a roller shutter , or what are you doing ? Do you have an eye mask ? Are you using that ? Are you using a white noise machine ? Do not underestimate the benefit of a white noise machine in your room while you're on night shift . That white noise not radio or TV , but white noise actually gives your subconscious brain something to focus on and you don't jump when you hear the slightest noise outside . It's really , really important Clean and tidy room . Have you got a clean and tidy room ? It does help and is conducive to good sleep . When was the last time you changed your pillow and have you got a comfortable mattress ? Stand at the doorway and look into your bedroom and ask yourself does that look like a restful place for me to sleep in ? Not when you're coming home from night shift Normally . Have a look in your room and see if it looks like a nice , restful place , having a fan or even just air con in your room . It's important In fact , it's imperative that your body is cool for sleep .

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That's why we have the hot shower earlier , because what it does is it draws the blood to the outside and cools our core . What happens ? Is we cool and we go to sleep ? That's literally what happens . Get yourself a lavender spray . There's evidence that supports the calming effects of lavender , and lavender spray is where it's at . This is a question that I get asked many , many , many times , and that is training on the way home . Do we train on the way home , even if you're feeling good ? The simple answer to that , in fact the category answer to that , is no , we do not . Under no circumstances do you train on the way home ? I've had clients send me pictures of them in the gym saying how good am I ? I tell them to get out , get home and get to bed .

Speaker 1 9:28

The last thing you want to be doing is further stimulating your central nervous system . Your body is already stressed purely by being desynchronized from the circadian rhythm . Your body is stressed . It doesn't know . You run the risk of injury because things are not running how they're properly meant to be running . So why would you do that ? You're exposing yourself to more light . You're exposing yourself to more blue light because those lights in the gym are admitting a bright blue light . It keeps your weight longer and it's further stressing and already tired and stressed body . You won't waste away , trust me . It's a few days and even if you do a full week of nights , you won't waste away . It's fine , because what you do when you train on the way home after a night shift is your body is already stressed , cortisol is elevated , so your body is not cashing it on the adaptations from training anyway . You are wasting your time and I'll be quite clear on that . If you want to train and you feel you need to train , train when you wake up , because you will be rested then and then that would be a good time to train .

Low Intensity Fat Burning Training

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If you don't feel like going and lifting weights or going for a run or doing stressful type exercises , what I highly suggest that you do is you conduct yourself and do a list session , list session . List Li , double S is low intensity , steady state . This can be done on a treadmill or it can be done on a bike . I discussed this at length in episode 18 and in the show notes for episode 18 is actually the formula for how to find what your maximum heart rate is . List training means that you are training at 65% of your maximum heart rate . In summary , it's 220 minus your age equals and whatever that number is , you multiply that by 0.65 and whatever that number is , you then actually train at that level .

Speaker 1 11:44

At that level , your body is literally just burning the fat out of your bloodstream or the triglycerides as fuel out of your bloodstream . It's not using carbohydrate , it's just using the fat , the triglycerides in your bloodstream and burning them out . As shift workers , we or evidence is showing quite categorically that we , as shift workers have elevated triglycerides and we further elevate those by eating overnight . So what we need to do is we need to get rid of those because they will stay in our system for up to 48 hours after we have actually completed our last night of night shift , and this is not good . This is what elevates our cholesterol and causes us problems .

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Whatever you do , don't go and get a blood test done on the night after or within 48 hours of finishing a night shift , because your doctor will freak out at your triglyceride level . What we want to do is we want to burn those out , and if you can do a couple of list sessions while you're actually going through the night shift , then you're in an ideal position to be on top of burning those out and you will feel fantastic . It will really make a big difference . So what you do is you start the treadmill and you get it up to the right gradient and you get it up to the right speed so it holds your heart rate at that 65% maximum heart rate and then you maintain that for 30 minutes . That's all it takes . Or you get on a stationary bike and you do exactly the same thing and as long as you're within two or three beats either side of that , and maintain that for 30 minutes , you will literally just be burning the fat out of your bloodstream as fuel . Now I want to be clear . You're not burning fat , stored fat . What you're burning is you're burning the fat out of your bloodstream . You're not burning stored fat . It's not the fat zone fat burning zone . But the reason why it's called a fat burning zone is because it is literally burning the fat out of your bloodstream , but it's not burning stored body fat . That's to be clear . Now let's move on from that . Go and have a listen to episode 18 and it will talk to you all about my two best bang for buck exercises for a shift worker . Now , appointments If you are stuck on a night shift and you actually have appointments between your nights , change them , cancel them , change them , do whatever . This is not the time to get your car serviced . This is not the time to have a physio appointment or a psych appointment or a whatever appointment . We don't have any appointments while we're on night shift because we need to focus on sleep , and that's what it's got to be about . So , even if you've waited some time , when the roster comes up or your schedule comes out , move the appointment , because you've got to focus on that sleep . It's so important . The other one that I want to raise with you as well , which is something that I see quite often , and also here with my one-to-one clients as well , is people coming home from work and then they have to hang around and get the kids ready for school , and then they drive their kids to school . Do you have any idea ? You are playing Russian roulette with your children's lives . You've been awake all night , you've come home and now you're in a position Now you might feel okay , or think that you feel okay , but your body internally is trying to force you to go to sleep . It's doing everything possible . That micro-nap may very well injure , or worse kill , your children or other children in the area at the time . Keep that in mind . It is that serious and I know many times . I've seen times when this has actually occurred . So don't play Russian roulette with your children in the car . Get home , go to bed . Be that person that says to a friend if you pick my kids up , I'll pick yours up at the other end of the day . Get up after you've had a sleep and go and pick the kids up . That's absolutely cool . Now we don't come home from work and put a load of washing on and then mop the floor while we wait for that to finish and then hang it and then go to bed . We don't do that . We don't run around doing the shopping on the way home from night shift . We go home , we go to bed . I think you've probably got the message there . We sleep In relation to sleep . Are you a one sleep or a two sleep person ? I was always a two sleep person , but then my roster allowed that to actually happen . I either worked 11pm to 7am or I worked 10pm to 6am , so that allowed me to have two sleeps . I would get home and then what I would do is I would sleep and wake up around about 12 or one and I would get up and just take myself for a gentle walk . That was when I did a few of my personal jobs whatever little jobs that I had to do and then I would have dinner and then I would go back to bed and I would have either an hour and a half or 30 minutes sleep or just lay there and have a good rest before I went into work , and that is what got me through . But if you're one of those people that has one sleep , all pay out of you , well done If you can sleep for eight hours or nine hours between shifts . All pay out of you . That's the way to go . But I would almost be tempted to be that person that stays up a little bit longer and sleeps through , because you would find yourself very exhausted , because you've reversed your cycle completely around from what it would do in the normal daytime . Ie , most people nine to fives work all day , come home , they have their socialising time and then they go to bed , get up and work , whereas you would be sleeping , getting up and socialising and then going to work . It's kind of weird , isn't it ? Would a nine to five get up at midnight and socialise until they went to work at seven o'clock ? I don't think so , and that's what you're doing as a shift worker . So have a think Now , when you do get up , have a snack with a family or dinner and then nap . If you're that to sleep person , or Even if you can't sleep , even just going into the room putting the eye mask on and having deep rest non-sleep is also Excellent for you . Just to lay there and just do that . Deep control , breathing four seconds in hold for seven seconds , eight seconds out , and then we head off to work . That is the optimal way to deal with the day . Between nights , I've put some pretty quick rules in there in relation to dropping kids off and not Shopping and not training and not , you know , doing the housework we really , really do , and I can't emphasize enough we need to get home , we need to get to sleep , and whatever we need to do we do after that . Now I know that you struggle with shift work and that's why you're listening to this podcast for that magic tip right , but I want you to remember that this advice is actually generic and it's not unique to your own situation . Now , I started this podcast and I also started my business because I totally understand the 24-7 shift work environment , what it feels like to be in it , because I've done it for almost four decades . I'm an evidence-based nutritionist , so I can read research and what I do then is I apply what that research tells us in a legitimate and a workable way to a live environment . From my own Experience , it's not that I live with someone that's done shift work , it's not that I've studied shift work . I've actually done it for almost four decades , so I know what it's like . I know how you feel , I really do and I can coach people with empathy and I can also coach them with Understanding . I coach shift workers one to one with this and I do it with great success , and I can help you by looking at your work life , your social life and your home life . So in the show notes is a link to my one-to-one coaching and I'd love to help you to thrive and not just survive , because doesn't everybody want more energy to do the things that you want to do outside of your shift working life ? Of course you do , so you don't need to struggle . So book a free discovery call today and let's see if we are a good fit for coaching , because I would Absolutely love to help you . There's a link in the show notes . Or you can go to a healthy shift , or one word , a healthy shift , calm , and that is a wrap for today's episode . Now remember , fellow shift workers , your health , and in particular your mental health , is a non-negotiable . It's the foundation that allows you to excel in your career and enjoy life beyond the workplace . Remember , this is about having more energy to do the things that you love outside of your shift working life . You don't have to be tied to the job . By taking these evidence-based steps , you won't just be surviving , you'll be thriving . So keep pushing forward and remember I'm here , roger , to support you every step of the way . So stay committed to nourishing your body and prioritizing your well-being 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 well-being . 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 shift . Calm , I'll catch you on the next one .