Optimizing Shift Work With ArcaShift

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One of the biggest struggles as a shift worker is knowing when to eat , when to get light , when should we cut caffeine , when should we sleep ? Is there a chance to have a nap , and when should we actually do it optimally ? Well , in today's podcast , I'm going to discuss an app and let you know all about ArcaShift , the app by ArcaScope , and how it really benefits the shift worker . 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 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers , using evidence-based methods , to not only survive the 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 . Well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show and welcome back to A Healthy Shift .

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This is the podcast where I go out of my way and do my absolute best to give you strategies and tips and hints that help shift workers thrive and not just survive in your shift working life . I'm your host , roger Sutherland , and today I'm going to talk about a bit of tech Now . If you've been with me for a while , you know that I'm always on the lookout for tools that can really make shift work not only manageable but also optimize it for our health and well-being but also optimize it for our health and well-being and today I've got an app that I honestly believe is a total game changer for shift workers , and the app is ArcaShift , which is by the company ArcaScope . Now , this app is designed specifically with shift workers in mind , and it goes beyond the basic features that you might expect . It doesn't just track sleep , it literally learns you , and let me explain exactly what I mean by that . Now , I've done a lot of work with ArcaScope in relation to developing this app . When it was hatched , I started communicating with Dr Olivia Walsh , who is the founder of Arcuscope , and Dr Walsh reached out and asked me if I could find shift workers that could actually help them with actual shift working data for the app to really test it and make it quite robust . And we've provided a number of actual shift workers who have been testing the app for Arcoscope , and it's got to the stage where it first started on the Apple platform and it's now on the Android platform , or it's been on the Android platform now for probably the best part of 12 months . The app is just developing at such a rapid rate of knots . It is quite incredible watching this app grow and , as I will tell you a bit later in the podcast , it's now got a brand new feature , which I just cannot tell you how much I support this feature as a shift worker . Based on my own 40 years of experience as a shift worker , it is really , really game-changing for us . So let's have a look at it .

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What's the power of personalized circadian rhythm cues Now ? As shift workers , our circadian rhythm is literally all over the place because of our schedules , and our schedules are anything but typical . There is generally no pattern at all . But the ArcaShift app addresses this head on . It uses data over time to learn you . It learns your sleep habits , it learns your circadian rhythm , your individual circadian rhythm , and once the app gets to know you , it starts sending specific cues to your phone to help you to align your sleep , your light exposure and other behaviors within your circadian rhythm . It helps to optimize you . So what's so brilliant here is it's not just throwing out generic advice like you've got to get more sleep , because that just doesn't work for us , does it ? Instead , arca shift literally is there to help you to manage things like when you should expose yourself to daylight or when you should start to dim down the lights . It's guiding you to work with your own unique circadian rhythm , even though your schedule is constantly shifting , and this is what , I believe , makes it incredible . Now , I've been playing with this in the background for years now and I just think it's just phenomenal . And even when I go and do my radio show , when I go and do the radio show on the Wednesday nights , I use the app to guide me to go into and out of the radio show , and it's phenomenal . It tells me when to sleep , when to nap , when to get up , what to do , when to cut caffeine . It just is a really , really good setup .

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Now , for example , if you are moving from night shifts back into day shifts , what the app can do is help you to transition as smoothly as possible . It will give you tailored advice according to you and according to your shift and according to what you are doing on light exposure , when you should actually time the meals , and even when it's optimal to take breaks . Now , this kind of specific queuing is something that's been missing for shift workers for far too long . Now , yes , I know that there are apps out there that help to support jet lag and being able to and I won't name them but there's apps out there that actually support you transitioning from jet lag . So if you take a flight , you can prepare for it , go and be prepared for the time zone that you're going into and the same on return . But that doesn't work the same as for a actual shift worker with our rotating schedules .

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Now , what this app does in the background is it actually learns who you are and it learns what you prefer to do and how you prefer to go about it . And what it does is it uses evidence-based science to actually give you recommendations around what your schedule is , to support you to literally start thriving and not just surviving , and this is where it makes a huge difference . Now here is the clincher and I honestly believe that this is the biggest improvement to the app thus far and that is introducing the nap scheduler . That's right . It will schedule what is an optimal length and an optimal time for you to have a nap , given what your current rotations are . Now this is where it gets really interesting , because ArcaShift have just rolled out this nap scheduler , so it's still being developed , and if you've been listening to me for any length of time , you know , and you will always know , how much of a huge advocate I am for napping .

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Napping is your superpower as a shift worker . But let's be honest , not all naps are created equal . Right , we've had naps that leave us feeling really groggy and make us feel worse than we did before , and this is because we've got it all wrong . So how do we nail that perfect nap ? Well , the nap scheduler in ArcaShift is designed to help you to optimize not only the timing of your nap but also the length of it , because this app knows when your body is most receptive to that nap that will actually recharge you Now , when it's likely to leave you feeling like you've been hit by a truck . Right , because the last thing we want to do is nap at the wrong time for the wrong length of time and spend the next two hours trying to recover from it .

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But by factoring in your work schedule , your own unique circadian rhythm , your previous sleep pattern , this actually offers a personalized suggestion for when to nap and for how long to nap , for it's not just about grabbing 20 minutes whenever you can although that can be beneficial as well but it's about making the naps actually work for you . If you've ever gone through the day and thought God , when do I actually nap , what should I do ? How should I go about doing it , arcashift actually tells you this is it . This is when you need to nap , and it doesn't just say you must nap at this particular time . It actually gives you a range of options and helps you with that . So this is the best thing .

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This feature helps shift workers to avoid that dreaded nap hangover that we all get . So you wake up feeling refreshed and you're ready to tackle the rest of your day or night . So what we're doing is we are maximizing our work-life balance with the ArcaShift app . So , beyond the circadian rhythm cues and the nap scheduler , what I really love about ArcaShift is that it's designed to help you to literally maintain balance .

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Now we know that work-life balance can feel really , really elusive in our shift working world . It can literally feel incredibly lonely because we are so out of sync with society . But having the right tools makes it all achievable , because ArcaShift doesn't just push you to manage your sleep better . It also helps you with your overall schedule management , which gives you time to focus on what you love outside of your work , and you know that this is one of my mantras in a healthy shift and the business mantra is giving you more time to enjoy the things that you love outside of your shift working life , and this is really , really important to me . Now you know , I'm all about having the energy and vitality to live a life fully and not just getting through shifts . We don't want to just crawl and get to a shift and just get through it and then just spend our time just lounging around outside of that shift . So the ArcaShift app actually gives you practical steps to take to get the most out of your time off work as well , ensuring that you're not just recovering all the time , but you're actually optimizing your whole body and recharging .

Shift Work Optimization With ArcaShift

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So why I recommend ArcaShift ? As if you haven't just heard that . So if you're a shift worker who's tired of feeling like you're constantly fighting against your body's natural rhythms and aren't we all or if you're struggling with how to manage your naps and or when to sleep , or how to go about it when to get light , when to cut caffeine , when to have caffeine . I could not possibly recommend the ArcaShift app enough . The fact that it learns your habits , your schedules , your circadian cues and now , as a latest feature , it optimizes your naps . It's almost putting me out of a job , but my job is to make sure that you are aware of these simple strategies that you can carry around in your pocket , because it's like having a personalized shift work coach in your pocket all the time and you can set it to do push notifications . You can open it up at the start of the day and it will tell you what your schedule is . And here's another thing If you were to get overtime or you're stuck at work and you adjust your times , it will dynamically adjust on the fly to help you with recommendations .

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Should I sleep when I first get home ? Should I not sleep when I first get home ? What should I do ? When should I nap ? When should I get up ? When should I get light ? What should I do ? Because this app is designed with our unique challenges in mind and it's supported by evidence-based science . It's not just someone making this app . It's been developed by scientists that are really understanding exactly what the science tells us around shift work . Now , shift work does not have to ruin your sleep or your health . I've said this over and over again the reason why the research is so detrimental towards shift work is because people haven't been educated , and this app will literally walk you through what you need to be doing . So , with the right tools and a little guidance , you literally can go right on ahead and take control and thrive . So what I'm going to do is I will literally put a link in the show notes that will take you to the ArcaShift webpage that you can read about . Have a look at the images , see if it's something that's for you , and then you'll be able to download it on your platform , whether it's on iOS or whether it's on Android .

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Download the shift app ArcaShift and you can put your shifts into it . You can create your shifts , you can copy your shifts . You can put like for argument's sake , you can create day shifts in it . You can create afternoon shifts in it . You can put your normal eight to four days , any shift that you want to create . You can create a database , and then all you do is click and drag , click and drag , put the shift in on every particular day as you go through , repeat it as you go , and every month or every two weeks when you get your roster , you can literally just put your roster into it and it will set your schedule for you , and all you've got to do is follow the bouncing ball . It sounds too good to be true , doesn't it ? But honestly , it really is amazing . So if you haven't checked it out yet , head over to the App Store . You can go to it , to the link in the show notes , and give ArcaShift a go . Let me know how it works for you .

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I'm genuinely excited to literally hear your experience and help more shift workers make the most out of their schedules . I know , by communicating with Dr Olivia Walsh , that I know that the data with the shift workers that were provided , with the data that came through it , was literally improving shift workers' sleep by a minimum of one hour . Now , if I gave you an extra hour's sleep , you'd take it in a heartbeat as a shift worker , and I know that you actually would . So have a think about it . At what cost would it be for you to be able to get better sleep and actually optimize your life to do it ? I know I'm doing myself out of a job , but I want you to remember this . My mission in this 12 months is to reach 1 million shift workers and the more people that know about apps to optimize their shift work . I've touched them and that's what I really , really want to do and it's really important to me . So head on into the show notes , click on the link , go and have a read , download the app and give it a crack , because you'll find it's like having a shift work coach in your pocket .

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So thank you so much for tuning into a healthy shift today , if you found this episode helpful for tuning into A Healthy Shift today . If you found this episode helpful , please don't forget to hit follow and please this is important share this podcast with your fellow shift workers who could use some support . And until next time , take care , stay healthy and remember you're not just surviving , you're thriving . 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 healthyyshiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .