Managing Shift Work Challenges

Speaker 1 0:19

It's such a good song as well . So many of them , roger Sutherland . A Healthy Shift will take your calls . Veteran law enforcement officer over 47 years . How many Forty ? Roger coaches shift workers to thrive , not just survive . While working shift work . He gives workers more energy to do things that they all love , which is us . Have a look at the website . A Healthy Shift is what it's all about , roger . Good morning .

Speaker 3 0:45

And good morning to you , Tony . How are you this morning ?

Speaker 1 0:47

On a scale of 1 to 10 , apart from and we might talk about it a bit later on apart from stupidly , I don't know almost rolling off the end of the bed putting on a sand shoe . It's given me a re-carry for the last 48 hours on the back .

Speaker 3 1:01

We do it easily , don't we so ?

Speaker 1 1:03

easily Nebulous , nebulous .

Speaker 3 1:06

One of the biggest problems that we have is trying to recover from it these days , once it goes , we're not 15 anymore .

Speaker 1 1:15

Yes , and so often we get reminded that is the case . We feel like we are , we think we might be , yep , but then the bones just go .

Speaker 3 1:25

I'm sorry , we're not going to let you do this now and then we catch sight of ourselves in the mirror . Yeah , and we think God Jesus what ?

Speaker 1 1:31

happened , I know .

Speaker 3 1:41

And when did it ? Yeah , that's , and when did it happen ? When did that happen ? When did that happen ?

Speaker 1 1:45

And for me I go and you think , dad , I wonder it'd be interesting to find out from listeners , for women in particular do they ever look in the mirror and go oh goodness , I'm starting to look like mum ? I wonder .

Speaker 3 1:58

I wonder because I know I do . Well , I'm the living image of my dad , so I know it shocks my mum a lot of the time . It's funny , isn't it , because my dad's been gone a long time now but his mannerisms still very much come through in me very , very much .

Speaker 1 2:17

And is that often pointed out by other family members ?

Speaker 3 2:20

My mum in particular . Yeah , yeah . Very much .

Speaker 1 2:22

So yeah , I wonder if we grow into that as we age gently .

Speaker 3 2:29

But I still think it's quite funny . How can that happen ? It's got to be built into your DNA and your genetics , doesn't it ? But mannerisms and behaviours and the way we go . I just still think it's really funny how we can pick up mannerisms and behaviours like that .

Speaker 1 2:47

If you would like to join the program . You know how it works . 133693 is the telephone number . Roger is a wonderful coach and we talk about things the challenges of working , night shift . We say night shift but it's really about shift , the work isn't it Shift work full stop which can be often night shift but early mornings , late nights , what that does , how we manage that for family , for ourselves and for our co -workers , I guess .

Speaker 3 3:13

Oh , absolutely . I think shift work is a very lonely existence and it impacts greatly not only on our health but our mental health as well , and I wanted to just talk about I wanted to start off with that tonight as in how important it is , like you do , five nights here and then you only have two days off , how much pressure do you feel in those two days off that you've got to satisfy obligations of catching up with family , catching up with friends . You've got to put boundaries in place . Sometimes you've just got to say no , I'm having that time to myself , don't you ?

Speaker 3 3:49

And curiously for me , and I can't speak for everybody , obviously , but sometimes that almost feels a bit selfish . Now that is another mental battle that we've got to get around , but I think a shift worker needs to be selfish . We feel very , very selfish , but I think you need to be selfish because if you're not selfish you can't turn up as your best self to everybody else later on . Like you know , we might have . We've only got two nights off . You've only got two clear days and two clear nights off a week . You have to use that really wisely .

Speaker 1 4:21

Which becomes Friday afternoon , Friday night , Saturday , Saturday night , Sunday morning really , and then you've got to go back into the rhythm because you know that you've got to leave the home around about 10pm to be in here by 11am to start at midnight .

Speaker 3 4:33

Yeah well , you're not going to a family barbecue on a Sunday afternoon are you Because you know that you're chilling out , winding down .

Speaker 3 4:40

You can't drink , you can't go for a drink or anything like that , because you've got the responsibility of the show Friday night . You come out of it . Now I know what you do on Friday . I think it's fantastic and it's really really important to you and it's a great activity to take part in . If you wanted to talk about it , it's a great activity to take part in to come out of the night . It actually obligates you to be up and about . So you've come out of the night . It actually obligates you to be up and about . So you've come out of your five nights , have a short nap and then get up , and then you've got that Friday afternoon that you really really look forward to so a group .

Speaker 1 5:14

as we get together , we call it Champagne Friday . We're not drinking champagne necessarily , but it's a lovely way to catch up at that time mid-afternoon , late afternoon and over that three or four-hour period people drop in , drop out and you have that ability to catch up with everybody that you haven't perhaps been able to do in the week previously , and that fills your cup , doesn't it ?

Speaker 3 5:36

Fills your cup , you love it , wonderful . Now I know , because we've had a conversation about catching up on the Friday afternoon and you've gone , oh actually , and I went no , that's what you must do , not me . You need to do that on the Friday because it's really important to fill your cup with that and do that activity , because then you've got your time with whoever you want on Saturday , sunday , to have your chill time because you've fulfilled your obligations . And I think , to come back to the nuts and bolts of what we're talking about those boundaries .

Speaker 3 6:10

we must put boundaries in place between our shift working life and just shelve it for a period of time . We get paid for the time that we're there , so we need to shelve it for that period of time that we're not there and manage our time really well .

Speaker 1 6:24

Roger , there are texts coming in . G'day Roger 3OW . Looking forward to another great segment tonight . Thanks for teaching us more about shift work . Cheers from is it the Kalamberoo

Shift Work Challenges and Strategies

Speaker 1 6:34

?

Speaker 3 6:34

Kalamberoo crew , kalamberoo crew , I think they're right up in northwest Australia , oh of course they are .

Speaker 1 6:43

That Kalamberoo , Okay sure .

Speaker 3 6:44

Beautiful West Australia . Oh , of course they are that calibre . Okay , sure , they're beautiful . So they've listened in and I've had messages from them afterwards . I cherish these people . Anybody that conditions themselves to turn the radio on from 3AW now you've got to remember they're two hours behind us as well . So they know they're watching .

Speaker 1 7:01

It's interesting because we go into 6PR , but not for another couple of hours , where they will be joining us .

Speaker 3 7:06

And they will miss out on me live , but they're on the app or they're watching or listening live , which I'm so humbled that they actually do that as a follower .

Speaker 1 7:15

We will do this . Take plenty of time for your calls . Those that work shift work , those that have challenges around shift work . We want to get your stories about when you start , when you finished . For how long did you do a particular shift work , in what industry ? Give us a call . 133693 . It is Australia Overnight . Good morning to you . Hello there , it is the Australia Overnight program . Should you choose to come and play , you'd be more than welcome . The reason I'm talking like this , I have no idea , roger , except that it just sounds a bit odd and I'm enjoying it . Thank you for sharing . Thank you to all those texts coming through as well 133693 , 0477 , 693 , 693 . There is one in particular who says from Claire G'day , tony and Ben , just quietly , I don't get this segment but I do love it and listen . That's very kind .

Speaker 3 8:06

Now that's weird , isn't it ? That's very , very strange , you don't get it .

Speaker 1 8:10

So it's just . Maybe we should explain it a bit more . The idea is to break open the ideas of those that work various shifts , which is it's been going on for a long time , particularly overnight shifts . And that sector is massive , whether you get up and start at 3 , 4 o'clock in the morning , or whether you're going to work at 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 o'clock , 12 o'clock at night Absolutely huge and the strains that that puts on you , your family , community . I mean it's not and I point this out when everybody asks me when I'm giving a talk it's not like we're going down the coal mines here , oh no . So I point that out . This is a great thing to be doing . What you and I are doing right now is a lovely thing to be doing , so there's no strain around that . But there are some engagement around or some concerns around when you get up , when you have a sleep , when you eat , when you engage with family and all those sort of elements of the issues . All those sort of elements are the issues .

Speaker 3 9:05

Now , tony , this is such a good point that you make here , because 20% or between 20% and 23% of the world population are estimated to be shift workers .

Speaker 1 9:13

now , I would have thought it may have been a few more now .

Speaker 3 9:15

That's one in five .

Speaker 1 9:16

Ron .

Speaker 3 9:17

There's 1.4 billion shift workers in Asia alone . Billion , not million , billion .

Speaker 1 9:22

Now that's Well . You can sometimes go to Singapore . I joke about this . Sometimes you can be in a hotel in Singapore and there'll be a vacant block of land across the road , and then you wake up the next morning and they've got the first 12 floors already built .

Speaker 3 9:35

Now you say you joke about it , but this is the industry that we've come to expect . Now we expect and I say this a lot , I know on this program but Amazon , when you make your order , you want it delivered the next day , if not that day . Well , someone's got to do that . They're shift workers . You want to get to the airport ? You've got your Uber driver , your taxi driver , everyone working at the airport , which is a 24-7 industry . When you fly , pilots , cabin crew . Now I want to give a shout out again to our vets that are there working overnight looking after our fur babies as well . We have the vets , and we're going to get Brooke on the show at some stage shortly too .

Speaker 1 10:14

Fantastic yeah .

Speaker 3 10:15

Because Brooke's going to come on and talk about what the vets go through overnight , which is going to be another shift working industry that people don't think about as well . Shift working industry that people don't think about as well . Obviously , when we think shift work , we always think police , fire , ambulance , we think nurses , but we forget about the doctors , the orderlies , you know everybody working in and around catering 24-hour industry . It's huge now .

Speaker 1 10:36

Yeah , there'll be journos and all sorts of people that are working , so come and join us . 133693 . Liz in Morwell , good morning .

Speaker 6 11:38

Good morning guys . 20 years a night shift worker , 10 till 7 in the morning in aged care .

Speaker 3 11:46

Well done , well done . What a job , and it's such a credit to you . I call you , ladies , our living angels on earth , liz , because anyone that sacrifices their own health for the health of others is truly a special person .

Speaker 6 11:59

Yeah , but it was a great job .

Speaker 3 12:02

Oh yeah , very rewarding . But it would also be now let's just talk about that for a second too , liz , because there would be devastation there as well , wouldn't there ? When you're working in aged care , you must take on a bit of a lot of sadness as well .

Speaker 1 12:15

When you lose people sadly .

Speaker 6 12:17

Yes , you do , you do , but you fall in love with them and you cry when they pass .

Speaker 3 12:22

Yes .

Speaker 6 12:24

And that's just part of the job , but I loved it . But the thing I couldn't handle is family , my family not understanding that I've just done a night shift , got home at 7 o'clock in the morning or 7.30 by the time on a sad day and they want me to come out to a barbecue .

Speaker 3 12:41

Now this is the very reason why this show is here to give people both in and out of the night shift or the shift working industry an understanding as to what it's like . Now Tony's doing night shift . He's here now . Now I get out of bed , come here to do this show to bring awareness because I'm prepared to back in the value of my mortgage that you were never , ever , ever educated on how to go about doing shift work , liz .

Speaker 6 13:08

No , never .

Speaker 3 13:09

I win that bet Never , yep .

Speaker 3 13:11

My mortgage is unfortunately the mortgage is still existing , but the thing is that's what I I'm talking about that no one has ever been educated and I'm here for it . So I've done shift work now for almost four decades and I've gone back and studied nutrition and now I can apply what the research is telling us , because there's some really exciting research coming out at the moment around shift work that we're learning because it's an evolving area , so we can help people in relation to ways to go about doing shift work to optimize their health , because you were never educated never you eat .

Speaker 6 13:48

Sorry , I'm about to swear .

Speaker 3 13:50

You eat shit food on night shift well , we , well , we the wrong things at the wrong time exactly sorry , Sorry yeah no , no , not at all .

Speaker 1 13:57

We know exactly what you mean . And again that gets back to a certain I don't know discipline . I know the great Woody and the great Tony Moclair who sat in this very chair for about seven years looking after the program . They had a bit of a routine where they'd have a bite together around about three o'clock just during the passing parade and the cereal and things .

Speaker 1 14:19

I around about 3 o'clock just during the passing parade and the cereal and things I've sort of not started to do that I try not to eat overnight . I don't know whether that's the right thing .

Speaker 3 14:24

And who's lost four kilos . Yeah , thank you . I just thought I'd throw that in . Was that what I was supposed to say ?

Speaker 1 14:29

Very , good point . That's not why I wasn't fishing for that . That's very kind of you to say , but I guess , liz , as you well know , you can go down a bit of a rabbit hole .

Speaker 6 14:38

Oh , you can , you can . We used to get together on night shifts and have many parties .

Speaker 5 14:45

Yeah .

Speaker 6 14:46

It's just junk food . And then you get past that and then you go on to the healthy food .

Speaker 3 14:51

Well , you do , but how long does that actually last , though , liz ? This is the point that I make . We go all or nothing , so what we do is we turn around and we say , okay , I'm going to be healthy now . So we start walking or we go to the gym , we start preparing our meals and , all of a sudden , it lasts a week , it lasts two weeks . What we fail to do is just put little steps in place and just nail those individual steps . Now , tony , this is how I help clients Just put a little step in place and work with a client on a little step , and then we keep evolving until they become ingrained in their DNA , and this is how they're starting to really , really thrive . Liz , fantastic , well done , are you all ?

Speaker 1 15:31

but retired for the moment . Liz , what's the plans ?

Speaker 6 15:34

I'm retired now . I'm a lollipop lady now .

Speaker 1 15:37

Nothing wrong with that .

Speaker 3 15:38

Nothing wrong with that at all . Well done , you really are a big helper aren't you ?

Speaker 6 15:42

Oh , that's just in my DNA . I guess I love it .

Speaker 3 15:46

You've gone from the old people to the younger ones .

Speaker 6 15:48

You must love that . And I'm nearly in a nursing home myself . Soon . Not quite , but nearly there , hey Liz love your work .

Speaker 1 15:55

Thank you for calling through and being part of the program this morning . 133693 . Let's go to quickly , karen , good morning .

Speaker 2 16:01

Hi guys , my ex-husband I was with him about 13 , 14 years . He was a baker and he did night shift when he started about 11 and go right through till about 11 in the morning , the 12-hour shift . And he worked very hard . It takes a while to have you too . He used to come home with his eyes . He needed med sticks to open his eyes .

Speaker 1 16:27

You know it's very hard to understand you , karen . I don't know what . We've been working on your phone for 10 years . I reckon it's very hard to understand you , karen . I don't know what . We've been working on your phone for 10 years . I reckon it's very hard to understand sometimes . But so your it was your husband . Was it from working from 11 till 11 ?

Speaker 3 16:41

As a baker .

Speaker 1 16:42

As a baker .

Speaker 3 16:42

Yeah , he was working 11 till 11 as a baker , karen , I picked that up . So the point that I would make there is he's starting at 11 pm and he's working through the dark hours , but the biggest problem that he's got is he's then awake and working , getting that daylight at the time when he needs to be , not getting that daylight to sleep . How did he sleep when he got home ?

Speaker 2 17:05

well he managed to fall asleep . I'd make him something to eat and then he'd go to sleep .

Speaker 3 17:10

He was out like a light .

Speaker 2 17:10

Lucky I would be too after a 12 hour night shift , I think I , and then he'd go to sleep .

Speaker 3 17:12

Yep , good , he was out like a light Lucky I would be too , after a 12-hour night shift .

Speaker 1 17:16

I think . I think most would , wouldn't they yeah .

Speaker 3 17:19

Yep , well done Karen .

Speaker 1 17:20

Thank you for that , Lenny in Melton . Good morning Good morning guys .

Speaker 4 17:24

Yeah , shift work , yeah , I worked for Qantas for 25 years doing shifts there and I was amazed , mate . Years doing shifts there , and I was amazed , mate . I mean , you get all sorts of hours working around the clock , really , 24-7 .

Speaker 3 17:42

What were you doing ? What were you doing when you were working for Qantas ? I'm busting to get into Qantas to be honest with you .

Speaker 4 17:48

I'll tell you what . I heard something on the radio today , but I'll get on a mind job first . But I was a high-lift catering truck driver turning aircrafts around . But I heard something today about people complaining about Qantas food .

Speaker 3 18:09

Oh yeah , I saw that .

Speaker 4 18:11

Right . Well , the thing is , Qantas don't do their

Shift Work, Nutrition, and Melatonin Discussion

Speaker 4 18:12

own food anymore . No , that's right , they don't their own food anymore .

Speaker 3 18:14

No , that's right , they don't , but they're still serving it , though , and I guess the no , but no , when we were serving it , we were serving food .

Speaker 4 18:23

Now , the food that people are getting on Qantas aircraft now is done by Emirates , yep Emirates .

Speaker 1 18:29

Okay .

Speaker 4 18:32

Donata Catering . So where is it produced , Lenny ? Where is it ? It's got nothing to do with Qantas .

Speaker 1 18:40

So where is it produced , though that's not an unusual business model ? Where is it made ? It's presumably done in Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane .

Speaker 4 18:47

No , no , each airport has got their own centre . That's what I'm saying . Yeah , each airport has got their own centre . That's what I'm saying . Yeah , but we had a beautiful place there at Qantas , and we produced absolutely fantastic food . What Donata is doing now , I don't know , and whether they're serving different sort of foods for Qantas and what they're doing for their own airlines , I don't know . I haven't been there for God knows years , but no , but when we were there , we were very professional . And then when everyone got sacked out of there and actually they didn't get sacked from Donata , but people were sacked All the grand staff virtually on the airport were sacked and you got people who've never been on tarmac before . All services went down the drain . Yeah , they finally get back now , but I'm scared of the safety aspect . Len , can I ask ?

Speaker 3 19:52

you a question , Because I've always wondered this and you're the man that's going to be able to answer it Is the food actually heated on the plane , or is it heated prior to going onto the plane and kept warm ?

Speaker 4 20:02

Well , it depends on the menu , of course . Yes , but the things that have to be heated , no , they're heated on the plane . Okay , now , I was there at a certain time where they actually changed the menu , because you know , if you're flying from , say , from Melbourne to LA , you'd have set times for food . Yes , but they Qantas just before I left , and actually I was flying at the time after I was part of that set left , and actually I was flying at the time I was part of that set-up and they changed the menu so that you could have your food , but you could have it when you liked and you would be served accordingly . And also , if you wanted to have a snack during the night , you'd get up out of your seat . It didn't matter whether you were in business class or in economy . You'd get up there and get something like a hot dog or something like that , which was amazing .

Speaker 3 21:02

I found the Tim Tams . I knew where the Tim Tams were at the back of the plane . Don't worry about that Did you ? Oh , my goodness me . Yes .

Speaker 1 21:08

Well done , lenny . Thank you . We want to take a stack more calls . For those of you that have worked in shifts , various shifts over the years , in any particular industry , what's your story ? Come and join us . 133693 . I'm Tony McManus , roger's , here and taking your calls . 133693 . It's Tony McManus here , roger Sutherland , sitting directly opposite , if you would like to have a question anything to do with a shift to work . It doesn't matter what and when . We eat as a , as a shift , where we're just talking about that and I said mo , claire and woody over the years and others would go and have a bite around to a 2 , 33 o'clock in the middle of the program there's some really , really exciting research that we're it's coming to light now around eating what and when .

Speaker 3 21:50

Um , because it does matter . It's showing that that it does matter . It's not just about the calorie balance , because research shows categorically that shift workers don't eat more than what our nine-to-fivers do as an average . So why do they put weight on ? Why do shift workers put weight on and they do ?

Speaker 1 22:09

Everyone puts weight on Because presumably eating the wrong stuff at 2 , 3 , 4 o'clock in the morning .

Speaker 3 22:13

Yeah , and it's not necessarily about bad food . We heard Liz say I was eating SH1T . Right , it's not that it's the caloric content of food , but we always , on night shift , crave those highly palatable carbohydrates and fats . We were always going for chips , chocolates , lollies and damn Jenny's cake , which we've spoken a bit before . Damn Jenny .

Speaker 3 22:37

We love Jenny's cake , though Jenny , bring in the cake , okay , and the nurses are the worst in this scenario . So why do we put weight on ? Well , what we have recently learned is that we do not metabolize or store the nutrients that we consume when melatonin is elevated in our system . Now , melatonin is our sleep hormone . Well , it's the precursor to sleep , which is secreted from the pineal gland in our brain . But when melatonin melatonin is how you're sitting there in the evening and you start to get that , oh , I'm really tired , I want to go to bed that's melatonin doing that to you . It's preparing your body for sleep .

Speaker 3 23:20

What we have learned is , when melatonin is elevated , we stop actually metabolizing and also storing our nutrients very differently . Hence the reason why we're putting on weight . Or it may very well contribute to the reason why we're putting on weight . So , while we're sitting there and we are snacking on our barbecue , shapes in front of the TV watching the footy on a Saturday night late . That's one of the reasons why we put weight on , because we're not metabolising or storing the nutrients properly .

Speaker 1 23:50

And metabolism changes , does it not as we get older ?

Speaker 3 23:54

It changes we do . It's actually over 60 or 65 that our metabolism starts to slow down . We feel that it is because we think we start to put on weight when we get to about 40-ish , 40 , 50-ish . It's actually because we slow down . We become more content . Our energy balance changes . We become happy with the world . Content Content is the word we become very , very content with our lot . We don't have to work as hard , we're not out riding our bikes around to catch up with our mates and things like that . So we do tend to find that we slow down , which is why we spread . Yeah 133693 .

Speaker 1 24:36

Shawnee , good morning . Good morning .

Speaker 5 24:39

Yeah , I've done a bit of shift work in a nursing home in Sydney for a few years . I did all the odd hours at different times of the day and sometimes I'd be there all night because I lived next door and whenever someone didn't turn up they'd call me . I was doing enrolled nursing and I've also done work trolleys at all different times nine in the morning , eight at night , all over the place and I've always lost weight .

Speaker 3 25:05

That's interesting , isn't it ? Some people can lose weight on the night shift . It's not common Majority of people do , but were you someone who would eat overnight though ? Yeah ?

Speaker 5 25:16

I don't . I don't . I don't eat much when I'm not working . That's the problem . If I'm not working , I'm sitting around . I won't eat much , but I've been working or I am working . I'll eat while I'm doing it .

Speaker 3 25:26

Okay , yeah , um , yeah , that's interesting . So you've flipped it around , but your energy balance is still much the same . So if you're losing weight , you'll be in a calorie deficit , so you're moving more than you're actually consuming as far as energy goes .

Speaker 1 25:41

Good on you , Shorty . Thank you , Tiffy hi . When you're sitting there and you feel sleepy before you actually go to bed , is that called a sleep wave ? She asks . So the sleep wave , yeah , sleep wave . You're sitting there , you're feeling a little sleepy before you actually go to bed .

Speaker 3 25:57

That's melatonin .

Speaker 1 25:58

Your body is melatonin .

Speaker 3 25:59

It's literally the melatonin hormone kicking into your system . Now , I think we've likened this before . Thanks , tiff , because it's a good question . Why do we feel sleepy ? And the reason why we feel sleepy is that melatonin , that precursor to sleep . And if you were to go camping and sit around a campfire , you tend to find that you , because of the orange light there's no blue light , there's no white light which contains blue light . There's none of that . Actually , in the spectrum of light , it's all orange and red and that brings on the melatonin more and it's more emphasized . So you notice it when you go camping a lot more and you tend to find that , oh , about 8 o'clock , you think , oh jeez , I feel really tired , like really , really tired , and you think , oh , it must be getting late . And you look at your clock and it's only 8 o'clock . Yeah , that's your natural circadian rhythm .

Speaker 1 26:48

Thank you . Natural circadian rhythm as opposed to unnatural circadian rhythm ?

Speaker 3 26:54

Yeah , because we don't realise how much we interrupt it with the blue light . Like , looking at the screen that we've got here , it's got blue light in it and that does inhibit our blue , we say screens .

Speaker 1 27:06

So we've got I'm surrounded by four screens One , two , three , four , five screens , six screens , seven screens .

Speaker 3 27:11

Yeah , yeah , the screen screens everywhere and they all contain a spectrum of blue light which is at 480 . I've forgotten what it's nanometers , nanometers , 480 nanometers , which is where the spectrum , the spike of blue light , is . That spike of blue light is literally hurting us , right ? It's not we're seeing the blue light . There's actually a sensor , a sense sorry . There is a group of ganglion cells , of nerve cells in our eyes that I can't remember what they're called now , it's got a great long name but what they do is they sense blue light . They sense it and then they tell the brain whether it's wake time or sleep time . So while you're lying in bed and you're looking at your phone , that blue light is actually hitting those ganglion cells , telling your master clock it's daytime , so we need to be awake .

Speaker 1 28:05

Text 442, . Thank you , nurses at the Wurst for bringing in yummy food , because many of us are great cooks .

Speaker 3 28:11

Yeah , they are , but not only that . One thing that I've learnt through coaching nurses one of the biggest problems they have as well is the family of patients bringing them in treats . They bring them in treats to say thanks for looking at or probably try and bribe them to be honest . They bring them in treats which all end up in the lolly drawer . Oh for the staff .

Speaker 3 28:34

Yes , of course what they do is they go in and they go and visit Nana , but they take the roses , chocolates or the bag of lollies or whatever into the nurses and say , hey , thanks very much for looking after Nana , You've been great . So they all end up in a drawer and the nurses can't help themselves because they just open the drawer and just keep on eating the lollies out of the drawer .

Speaker 1 28:52

As a kid . You'd go down as a kid , as a young adult , I suppose you'd go down to a place like Sorrento and you might do a few days down there and you have a beautiful hamburger , you might have a chocolate milkshake , a couple of Cadbury flake bars and then for morning tea you'd have something else a couple of toasted cheese sandwiches and maybe a burger at lunchtime . A couple of cans of Coke into the water all day . Do a bit of skiing . Have a whole lot of fun and not one extra kilo .

Speaker 3 29:22

No , that's exactly right . So why is that ? You tell me that you know . You've just explained it because you're swimming all the time , you're moving around all the time .

Speaker 1 29:30

We'll look at that . The other side 133693 . For Roger Sutherland , we're talking about all the issues around working overnight , shift work . If you are a shift worker , we want to hear your story . 133693 .

Speaker 3 29:46

We might have a vitamin D injection . Do you reckon Vitamin D injection yeah , yeah , you know it's funny , vitamin D . A lot of people don't understand actually how to take vitamin D and how important it is .

Speaker 1 29:55

We should

Importance of Vitamin D and Consequences

Speaker 1 29:55

just go out in the sun , but it's not easy when you're sleeping .

Speaker 3 29:58

Yeah one thing about vitamin D which is really important to note is it's very difficult for us to actually get just from food , like you'd have to eat a ridiculous amount of eggs or . Um , here's a fun fact for you you know if mushrooms because you get vitamin d in mushrooms do you know , if you turn a mushroom upside down and you sit it out in the sun , it actually absorbs the vitamin d from ? The sun yes , it does , absolutely it does . It actually increases the vitamin D in the mushroom .

Speaker 1 30:23

I'm just writing it down , roger's fun fact for the morning yeah , a mushroom upside down absorbs the vitamin D .

Speaker 3 30:32

Gills up will absorb vitamin D for the sun I think

Speaker 1 30:35

we'll get that on the merchandise T-shirts for the program . Absorb mushrooms absorb vitamin D .

Speaker 3 30:42

Love that . Okay , so let's talk about vitamin D , because it's really really important at this time of the year . Our vitamin D window is closing now , which means to synthesize vitamin D from the sun . That window is smaller Because we're coming into winter . We're coming into winter and it'll get to the stage where , even though the sun's out in June , there's literally you're not going to synthesize vitamin D at all In June . There's literally you're not going to synthesize vitamin D at all . Right , so people need to understand that you don't just synthesize vitamin D because the sun's on your skin . It needs to be 30 degrees above the horizon for you to be able to do that . Now we've talked about as long as your shadow is shorter than you are tall , then you are synthesizing vitamin D . Now , why is vitamin D so important ? Well , it's incredibly important for our bone health because it helps us to absorb calcium . It's really really important for our mood .

Speaker 3 31:31

You notice how people start to crash in the winter . You know how we start to feel miserable , although you're up and about because you love the footy , but we do start to get a bit more depressed in the winter because we're not getting that happy hormone . Vitamin D is the happy hormone . It is literally a hormone vitamin D , not a vitamin and when we take vitamin D , it's actually stored in our adipose tissue it's what we call a fat-soluble vitamin . So it goes into our adipose tissue , which is our fat tissue , and it sits there until the body needs it . So what we need to do is , over the summer , we've been actually stockpiling vitamin D in our adipose tissue , but now we're in a position where our vitamin D stores will start to deplete and that's when we start to get that what we call SAD , which is seasonal affective disorder . We start to get a little bit depressed SAD , sad , seasonal affective disorder . So , yeah , that's what it is . So we get sad literally , and that's why we need to be exposing ourselves and getting vitamin D , getting that light and also getting vitamin D in our system .

Speaker 3 32:40

So I highly recommend that people start supplementing vitamin D now , because even in Australia , we are known to be very vitamin D deficient , which would surprise you , because we get a lot of sun Gerald Quigley talks about it , but we wear sunblock and we don't , and women with their tinted moisturisers and things like that . We don't synthesise vitamin D through sunblock skin . So I highly recommend that people take it Now , the recommendation to take vitamin D as the RDAs . The recommended dietary amount for the Australians is actually 400 IU international units , but it's insufficient and it's proven to be insufficient . So we should be actually supplementing with 1,000 IU daily , at least at the moment , and if you miss a week , you can actually take 7,000 IU on the one day . No problems , there's no impact of that . In fact , you can actually take it bi-monthly , twice a month at a dose of around 14 to 20,000 units , and you can buy that on script through a pharmacy .

Speaker 1 33:48

So you've got to get a prescription for it .

Speaker 3 33:50

No , you can get the script for the big one . Okay , right , If you see your doctor most doctors , they don't test you for vitamin D now as a natural course .

Speaker 1 34:00

Does that not show up in a general blood check ?

Speaker 3 34:04

No , they don't test for it as a general blood panel . If you ask your doctor to get tested for it which is really important you do they can then tell you . And the reason why they don't test you for it is it's just presumed now that people are deficient in it . Even in Australia it's shown that we're very deficient . So the fact that we're going out of our summer now , people should now be supplementing vitamin D , at least until September . You will feel so much better and it combats fatigue , and it also combats fatigue . It supports our immune system . It supports bone health really really supports bone health and it actually assists with fat loss as well vitamin D . So it's really , really important that we get vitamin D into our system every day , or that we have the equivalent of what we would be taking every day once a week , and you can take it all at once .

Speaker 1 34:57

Our treats . This is a text . Our treats never make it into the drawer . This is from the nurses that have been listening .

Speaker 4 35:02

Yeah .

Speaker 1 35:03

Talk about the treats coming in for staff and nursing staff and teams , but they never make it into the draw . They get eaten so fast .

Speaker 3 35:09

They get left on the counter and that's the end of it .

Speaker 1 35:12

Gornsky , just before you go . Can we raise the question I think I was talking about it a couple of times this week where the behaviour has been well documented in the media and in other forums on this great radio station 5AA and 3AW , where behaviour of young people is under the spotlight .

Speaker 3 35:33

Yeah , it's well and truly . We've got a lot of youth running around and once again we've spoken about circadian . You know , they're naturally night owls . But what I want to talk about just briefly is the behaviour . I think I can solve the problems in society today . It's very very convoluted .

Speaker 3 35:50

It's a big claim , it's a massive claim and everyone's laughing at the moment saying you're wrong . But I'm just going to say one word there's got to be a consequence for the action . That's it . And because there's no consequence for the action today , I think that's one of the biggest problems .

Speaker 3 36:04

It feels like that to a lot of people . Yeah , well , that's what everyone says . Because how many times do we say on social media I'm not going to comment on the comments , but how many times do we say it Lock them up and they will learn , or there's no consequence , they go to court and they just get a slap on the wrist . Well , that's the consequence . So why are people doing things and continually doing things ? Now , you know , you and I spoke off air before . It's massively convoluted the problem . It comes down to parenting , it comes down to the judicial system , it comes down to policing , it comes down to everything . But I know law enforcers are very , very frustrated with the whole thing . But there has to be a consequence . There's no consequence to the action .

Speaker 1 36:42

But what's changed around that ? A consequence there's no consequence to the action . But what's changed around that ? What's changed around the model that was post-war 50s , 60s , 70s , where there was a heightened sense of community . Maybe there was a heightened sense of trying to do the right thing and the discipline level seemed to be more intense . I agree , Spare the rod , spoil the child .

Speaker 3 37:08

That was always what it was , wasn't it when you were growing up ? It was spare the rod , spoil the child . I agree , I was raised on that . It didn't do me any harm . I'm not saying that that's what we should bring back , but what I am saying is because that's a whole argument in itself . But I do think that we spare the rod's ball , the child is also the same as saying there has to be a consequence for the action and there also , when people do the right thing , there's got to be a consequence that people have done the right thing as well . You know , with a child , how often in front of the TV , when a child's being quiet and just watching TV quietly , how many parents

Parenting and Education Evolution

Speaker 3 37:39

go up to that child and go , gee , johnny , you're being such a good boy today . That child and go gee , johnny , you're being such a good boy today , you are being so good . Thank you , mummy really appreciates that we don't do that do we Probably not as much as we should .

Speaker 3 37:51

No . All we ever hear is no , no , stop that , Don't do that , Don't do that . No no , it's true , we do it as grandparents to some degree to different degrees we call teachers by their first names . Now , Kids walk in and out of school .

Speaker 1 38:08

Uniforms go on to the back in a lot of areas as well . Can you imagine calling your teacher by a first name in the 60s or 70s ?

Speaker 3 38:11

But it's not only that , but they're putting their teachers up against the wall . We're in a real , real problem . I mean , we saw the news today about Shepparton the super school in . Shepparton . I know someone who works there .

Speaker 1 38:24

There's a lot to discuss Roger Sutherland's here . We'll knock it off the other side of this . Roger Sutherland joins me Every couple of weeks . We talk all things night shift . You can have a look at the website , which is simply called Roger .

Speaker 3 38:37

A healthy shift .

Speaker 1 38:38

Dot com A healthy shift dot com . There's resources there , links to help as shift workers , very , very handy and , if you want so , all that information's there and I think you're doing some seminars and that's in the planning .

Speaker 3 38:52

Yeah , we've got seminars in the planning . I do health and well-being seminars . If anybody's listening that is interested in having me attend in your workplace and talk about all the current research around the best way to go into out of night shift , the best way to meal prep and all of those sort of things . We can reduce unplanned leave , which is what everybody wants . We can increase productivity and just boost morale in the workplace . Let's do it . It's all on the website , which is very important . See you in a couple of weeks , sir .

Speaker 1 39:22

Absolutely you will . Roger Sutherland . Have a look at the website healthyshiftcom the other side of the news coming up 133693 . Plenty of time for your calls . We'll just have a bit of fun in the next hour .