Speaker 1: 1:11

1-double-3-6-9-3 is our telephone number, which means it's time for Roger Healthy Shift. Here we go, the night shift. It is a healthy shift. Rog Zavalin just in case you're not too sure a regular contributor to the program, a veteran law enforcement officer, got away with it for about four decades. He now coaches shift workers to not just thrive but survive, all while working the night shift, and gives each and every one of us a pair of glasses and more energy to do things that they love, that we all love, outside our shift working lives. There is a big distinction there too.

Speaker 2: 1:51

Roger Sutherland, good morning. Good morning to you, Tony. How are you this morning?

Speaker 1: 1:55

Just share with the audience these glasses that you've brought in and explain what they are and why?

Speaker 2: 2:02

Okay, so what I've brought in and what we're wearing or I'm wearing for the people that can't see or maybe they are watching on the web- they could be watching on the web, so you can do that.

Speaker 1: 2:11

If you're not just tune in to the, you can see it, I think, on the web and you'll be able to.

Speaker 2: 2:15

We'll wave to you when you do that, I'll give you a wave. I'll give you a wave. I'm wearing Swanwick, blue light blocking glasses. Slow that down, slow that down. So it's Sonic. No, swanwick, swanwick. It's written Swanwick, but it's pronounced Swanwick. Actually, an Australian that developed these blue light blocking glasses.

Speaker 3: 2:35

Okay, right, an Australian so that's a brand Swanwick.

Speaker 2: 2:38

Swanwick is the brand and there was two brothers that started the company and they developed what are now probably world-leading blue light blocking glasses that are legitimate blocking of the 480 nanometres of blue light. Now you've put them on, I showed you what they're like and they literally take every bit of the spectrum of blue that we need to block.

Speaker 1: 3:00

All right, so I've got these over the top now of my prescription glasses. They're called fit-overs Fit-overs, so it's designed to do that Correct, okay, yep, and so all the colours and things that would be on the laptop, the computer screen in front of me, yes, and a lot of the signage here in the studio promoting 3AW, of course, for a lot of the online stuff, including the House of Wellness, of course, the blue's been removed from that, yep, so everything looks pretty green and or, yeah, it's certainly not dark. This brightness, oh, no, it's not dark at all, it just removes that blue look.

Speaker 2: 3:41

It does take some. It takes a bit of getting used to, but I can assure you that when you wear blue light blocking glasses and let's talk about the reason why we wear blue light blocking glasses as well after the sun has gone down, we need to eliminate that blue light to not phase shift our circadian rhythm. It doesn't inhibit sleep, all right. So our sleep is only inhibited by blue light by about seven to nine minutes. So it doesn't actually inhibit sleep per se. It's not statistically significant. But what it does do is it phase shifts our circadian rhythm and impacts on our melatonin production. Now, melatonin is the hormone that signals darkness to the body, and when the eye sees blue, it signals to the brain it is daytime. So when we block that blue by wearing this orange-tinted lens and we can't see any blue here at all, it is completely eliminated all of the blue out of the spectrum. It signals to the body that it's actually dark. So even though you can see, it's told the body that it's actually dark out here.

Speaker 1: 4:47

So presumably what you're advocating, then, is that organisations such as this one, or zillions of others all across Australia for night shift workers are providing the incorrect or no longer appropriate lighting for those that are working overnight.

Speaker 2: 5:04

Absolutely 100% correct. We are now developing and I liaise with companies in the USA and there's also a company in Australia which is bringing this what they call circadian lighting into Australia, and what will happen is, after dark, in hospitals, operating theatres everywhere, call centres, studios like this it's going to eliminate the blue spectrum out of the light so that the body doesn't realise that it's actually light, so it doesn't impact on our circadian rhythm, and what we need to do is we need to stop impacting our circadian rhythm, because this is what is causing the disruptions to our hormones. Also, it's inhibiting melatonin, which is our cancer scavenger as well, and there's direct links now with blue light to breast cancer and prostate cancer in men as well overnight, and we have to be eliminating this blue light. So, on an individual basis, if your company's not doing it, you can wear blue light blocking glasses now, which takes all that blue out. At least you're protecting yourself in environments that you can't protect yourself from. Okay.

Speaker 1: 6:15

So what impact for someone like me, you and me that are working this time of the morning. I do it five mornings. You do it once every fortnight these days, but you've worked.

Speaker 1: 6:24

for a long time I've been here for 40 years, and so, on behalf of other shift workers, what is this going to do for us? If we were to wear these, if I was to have these on all morning, what would you say is going to suggest? When I jump into the cot by about 7.30 this morning for a nap, hopefully for six or seven hours, you reckon that would be enhanced?

Speaker 2: 6:43

Absolutely, it would enhance your sleep. Now, remember the blue light blocking glasses are not what actually prevents assist you with the sleep. To start off with, Let me just explain. Sorry, Mel, looking at blue light doesn't actually Well, not looking at it, but being surrounded by it being surrounded by blue light everywhere is impacting on our health and we don't realise. And it isn't until, like, you've got the glasses on now and you get quite used to it. You get very, very used to not seeing the blue at all, not seeing the blue.

Speaker 1: 7:20

It's a little weird. Instantly it's a bit funky, but even in the last three minutes it's sort of become a bit more comfortable.

Speaker 2: 7:25

It becomes very, you become very used to it and then when you take them off, it feels a bit weird. It's so bright and then you realise just how much it is actually impacting on that, because when your eye can't see that blue, it allows that circadian rhythm to function like that swing, going backwards and forwards all the time. And when it sees blue light it actually stops that swing in its nice swinging movement, which is our circadian rhythm.

Speaker 1: 7:52

All right, we'll take some calls. The other side 133693. 133693 is the other side. 1-double-3-6-9-3. 1-double-3-6-9-3 is the telephone number For those in WA. Good morning to you. 1-double-3-8-8-2. 6pr in Perth and our great friends at 5AA in Adelaide. Text message is 0-4-double-7-6-9-3-6-9-3. There already We'll get to them as well. And we want some topics. We want some of the great, funny, if you like, memorable, perhaps even bizarre night shift type stories.

Speaker 2: 8:27

I want to hear something bizarre that's happened to you Make us laugh. Someone call us and make us laugh, or what have you seen while you've been working on night shift? That would be something that would make us go, and I reckon there's got to be a lot of stories, hospitals, you would imagine. Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:39

The back of supermarkets. A lot of drivers all across Australia.

Speaker 2: 8:43

Morticians Morgues Morticians. I guess retired officers such as yourself would be oh, plus see some really really bizarre things on night shift.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Share those stories. We've cleared the lines You'll get through straight away. Come and join us. 133693. It's Tony Mack. We're here for Australia Overnight Morning. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You are right across Australia, nice to have you there. Special guest comes in every couple of weeks or so is Roger Sutherland. We talk about things like those that work shift work or have worked shift over many, many years. Come and join us. We're looking for those very funny or interesting, curious, great stories of, I guess, just the comradeship. Is that the right word?

Speaker 2: 12:35

Yeah, I think so. The shift workers there's a connection. The weird things that you've done, yeah 133-693, 133-693,.

Speaker 1: 12:43

We'll get you on straight away. Feel free to join us. I'm just looking at if you could change one. That's another great topic too, isn't it? If you could change one thing about those of us that work on a night shift. What about those of us that work on a night shift? What would that?

Speaker 2: 12:55

be. Oh, if you could change one thing about the night shift, what would it?

Speaker 1: 12:58

be. I'm not too sure from the point of view of what we do here. I've been doing it for a long time back here at 3RW for just over 12 months now, which is great, but I'm not too sure that you can change much about this.

Speaker 2: 13:15

No, do you enjoy everything about what you're doing on night shift? Yeah, I do Okay.

Speaker 1: 13:18

Yeah, it doesn't bother me, how do you sleep? In terms of the lifestyle, it's a bit anti-social, isolating. Well, isolating probably not, I wouldn't have used that word but certainly a bit anti-social. Because somebody say, oh, can we catch up for dinner on Thursday night?

Speaker 2: 13:36

Well, you can't go out for dinner on a Thursday night, as you well know. That's right. No, it makes it very hard, and I guess you've got the company of talking to a lot of people, a lot of different people, while you're at work. And it is a privilege, absolutely, and it's entertaining for you, and it was like for me when I was going to work with the police. It didn't matter what shift you were doing, you could have literally been involved in the next biggest event that's ever occurred in the world at the drop of a hat, yeah of course it could have been the next biggest, because we don't know when the next biggest thing is going to happen.

Speaker 2: 14:07

but you could have been it, and on the front line.

Speaker 1: 14:09

And in those sort of situations same with fireys, I suppose, or emergency workers in general how do you maintain that sense of I don't know? You know a lighter rather than be too dour about the work? You know you've got to keep it, sort of somewhat convivial.

Speaker 2: 14:24

I found it exciting for me. I always enjoyed the anticipation of what's going to happen next. You can't dread it and I think it's born into your DNA. You're that type of person that it'd be like, I think, with a nurse as well. Like a nurse goes into work and they're looking after patient after patient. They listen to the same thing over and over again, and compassion fatigue is something that a lot of nurses really suffer from, where they become so fatigued of looking after the same person over and over again.

Speaker 2: 14:54

Then, all of a sudden, something different happens and you're doing something different with a patient. You're not changing bedpans and changing sheets and showering someone. All of a sudden, there's something completely different that occurs, and I think in policing you can go from a massive event fatal accident that's huge, that's severely impacting on you to then going and helping Mrs Tibbins because her cat can't get out of the shed and you're helping that, and I think that was always the most exciting part of the job for me. I really enjoyed that you could volunteer to go to anything that you wanted to go to. That just provided you with a bit of something different.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Yeah and that's where the real joy of the work is, of course, absolutely. I can remember working with some officers many, many years ago in the southeast of South Australia and one moment could be hosting a sports program. A great friend and colleague hosting a sports program as a senior officer loved to do. It was just a bit of a sidebar and the next thing you could get a call and I would notice Pete's whole demeanour would shift. Yes, because he goes then back straight away into police mode.

Speaker 2: 16:03

Yep, actual leadership mode, leadership mode and I think this is something that people say oh, I don't know how you do that job, and it's like I liken it paramedics as well Driving along and all of a sudden, you are right out of the fry pan and in the fire trying to deal with the situation and you can walk while you're in that situation, and I think anybody who is in frontline health as well as emergency services will back this up. When you're in the situation, it's job, job, job, click, click, click and you deal with it. You make decisions, you do things, you do things well, everything works really well. It isn't until you step out of it that you go oh my God, that was full on, that was really full on. You don't think it at the time that you're in it. You're actually just going into full on work mode and even people who you think wouldn't be up to it are absolutely up to it and doing a fantastic job and coping with the situation.

Speaker 2: 16:56

And I think this is what's a real credit to our first responders and also our frontline health that you know you can be working in an ED department, emergency department, in a hospital, next minute this major emergency occurs and you've got five or six patients coming in and you are game on. You're calling for doctors, radiologists, you're talking for pathologists, you need x-ray, you need everything. Everyone's all pulling together to do it, and then you go home and you are absolutely spent. But it's how you unwind from that. That can be the problem for a lot of people. You've got to be able to put that boundary in place and unwind from it. You've got to be able to put that boundary in place and unwind from it.

Speaker 1: 17:37

You've got to be able to separate yourself from it, and is that a different experience for those that might be working during the day as opposed to those that are working overnight? No, exactly the same. Exactly the same experience.

Speaker 2: 17:43

Exactly the same yep, yeah, it's exactly the same, but it's the nature of that job and I think if someone gave me an opportunity today, if you were standing in front of a recruit squad of police and you had one piece of advice that you would give them, what would it be? I've thought about this a lot, a little bit, and my piece of advice to a recruit in the academy today would be you must have a work-life balance. You must switch off from your job and have an interest that really distracts you outside of it. Outside of it, you must Something that you do, whether it's flying a drone, whether it's playing basketball, playing cricket, football, evolving clubs, whether it's something that you do that's play music or play in a band or play something like that. You must have an interest that distracts you away from the job, that brings you normality. I know.

Speaker 1: 18:40

There's a former chief of police in WA. Yep, great blokes Did a bit of radio with us. Fantastic Played in a band, yes, and loved to do that. And so the commissioner would be actually playing, love it and do that. And then he'd do charities and ride bikes right across the state raising money and all those sorts of things. Had a whole lot of fun doing that, over and above being the Commissioner of.

Speaker 2: 20:09

Police and if you think about the Commissioner of the Police, the responsibility and the job is massive, enormous and the pressure is enormous. But while he's riding his bike or he's off playing in the band, it's taken his brain completely away from all of that and he's in that, doing that thing. And that's what my advice would be too, Because so many of them are searching for gear. They're sharing photos. They're when I say sharing photos, you know they're taking photos of work and stuff. They're doing so much that keeps them in Nurses. I think one of the worst things that people can be involved in is these chat groups off air out of work.

Speaker 1: 20:49

Yeah, that is a concern, Because you're still consumed by that culture.

Speaker 2: 20:52

You're consuming it all.

Speaker 1: 20:53

You haven't removed from that culture. Nursin says. I concur, like a footy team, once the goal kicker star breaks a leg, you notice other players come and they step up. It goal kicker star breaks a leg, you notice other players come and they step up. It's a very good point, isn't it? Oh, totally yeah, that's a really good point. Well done, nusin. Thank you for that, leanne hello.

Speaker 4: 21:10

You wanted to say good morning. Good morning Tony Jackson, roger, morning Leanne. I concur with Roger that when our pages were not for rescue yes, it's me again, we you know we'd be asleep and we'd have to get up and go do a job. So our circadian what do you call them? Circadian rhythm was out, because I was doing work in Sydney as well, but night times I'd go to a job. So, yeah, you go home, have a shower, jump back in the bed. Just learn to switch off. We did.

Speaker 2: 21:54

Leanne, it's very difficult, isn't it, when you go from a deep sleep, because the page has gone off and then, all of a sudden, you're up to 100%, with adrenaline thumping through your system in anticipation. I've done that when I was at the canines, at the dog squad. You go from fast asleep to jumping in the car and then getting to the job and realizing you'd left the dog at home.

Speaker 4: 22:15

True.

Speaker 2: 22:17

Oh, it's a true story.

Speaker 4: 22:19

Another thing, too, that one of the Older rescue blokes Said to me is Don't waste your adrenaline getting to the job, because you need it on the job. Yeah, it's so true, and I started doing that, and when I had an incident here recently, I was rushing home and I went rescue head. As soon as I got out the car, my rescue head kicked in and I was rushing home and I went rescue head as soon as I got out the car, my rescue head kicked in. Yep, and I was at home, yeah, yep.

Speaker 1: 22:44

So calm down. You know, it's a very good point really, and I think that's a thing when you're working in those sort of programs or that sort of area where you can turn off, but you've got to turn back on quite often almost very quickly.

Speaker 2: 22:59

Most people in those roles have that D&O.

Speaker 1: 23:03

Yeah, leon, thank you, it's a great call. We'll take more. The other side, 133693. Lots of texts coming in. G'day blokes no-transcript. George Noory I think it is presents his show in LA. So he's on air from 10 through until 2 in his time zone. So, jason, I'm not too sure what the point is. I mean 10 till 2 would be in his time zone. Go on, jackson.

Speaker 2: 27:10

You were going to say I think he means he'd be presenting in LA, but for the East Coast time zone, so it's a bit more manageable.

Speaker 1: 27:18

Okay, yes, presenting in LA, but for the East Coast time zone, so it's a bit more manageable. Okay, yes, well, it would be the same as, for example, if we were hosting this program in Perth. It would be, you know, this time of the year it would be a nine o'clock start. Might talk to them about that Question. Roger, from holidays I think you've answered the question, but back from Melbourne, from China, and the jet lag really only just kicking in now. I wonder what that's about. Okay, so they've come from. It's been back about five days now. Yeah, come back from.

Speaker 2: 27:49

China, so they've travelled east, which is always the worst way to travel as far as jet lag goes, when you're travelling east, because you are advancing your time clock. Now what we want to do to realign ourselves is we need to be getting up early light, we need to be moving most of the daytime in the daylight, staying out in the daylight, and what we want to do is we want to be eating at breakfast, lunch and dinner time of the new time zone that you're actually in, and what this does is it clues your circadian rhythm into your new time zone. I wonder what kevin the caveman did he didn't travel.

Speaker 1: 28:33

But but no, no, he never traveled. No, he didn't. That's a very good point. He didn't travel. But in terms of sleep pattern, presumably if it was getting dark at six, there was no lighting, there was no nothing. They'd just say close the doors, we're all going to sleep now through until six the next morning.

Speaker 2: 28:47

They used to sleep in two lots or a fire. Yeah, did they have fire. They had fire, but there's no blue light in it, which is why we need to be looking at the sunset and also the sunrise. The sunrise provides light that we need to stimulate our circadian rhythm to suppress that melatonin and also elevate the cortisol to get us going. Arthur, good morning.

Speaker 3: 29:16

Good morning, tony, mack, roger and Jackson. Now obviously you know I've been the security code for 40 years.

Speaker 1: 29:22

Yes, I think we all know Arthur. I think we all know now.

Speaker 3: 29:26

Yes, I do, yeah, of course you do the funniest thing. I used to work at the Alfred Hospital, so there was a psych patient there.

Speaker 1: 29:33

Did you In what capacity? Security?

Speaker 3: 29:36

Yes, okay, I've done the hospitals for a long time. You'll have great stories. Well, here's one of them. So I moved on to supervise the market which is now Emerson, and there was a guy who used to think he's Jesus Christ had some problems with him where you could legally shackle him. So it was about a few months later. I finished the shift at 5 in the morning. There he was in his jocks and he was lying at Pump Road and Commercial Road. He was jumping up and splashing the cars with a bottle saying you need to be baptized on Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2: 30:11

Baptizing the cars.

Speaker 3: 30:12

Yeah, and I rang him up and they came and got him in the straight jacket because they were teammates from before. And then I moved on to a club to supervise. We had the voice there and, in front of a thousand people, a very attractive lady. She just appeared out of nowhere and took her clothes off and was running around with a high-heeled dog.

Speaker 1: 30:36

Hang on. Who was on stage? The voice, John.

Speaker 3: 30:40

Oh, I can't remember who it was. We had them there. I just told the guards don't touch her, let the female guards deal with it. They couldn't catch her for half an hour in front of 1,000 people.

Speaker 1: 30:51

Excellent. Oh my goodness, Thank you, Arthur. You've got all those great stories. Well done, Artie. Thank you, Anne's calling from Adelaide. Good morning Anne.

Speaker 5: 31:02

Good morning Tony and Roger. I haven't rung before.

Speaker 1: 31:04

Well, it's lovely to have you on the program. Thank you.

Speaker 5: 31:07

Thank you. I had to ring as a registered nurse back in the 1960s, 64. I was a second-year nurse. Amazing, I've got a funny story about night shift.

Speaker 1: 31:18

Please yes.

Speaker 5: 31:19

Okay, right, so in the country I won't say where it was night shift, so 20 people perhaps would look after myself, with a ward next door, and there'd be a supervisor that would check in time to time or would ring them if we needed other help, right? So that happened. Anyway, we had a dear fellow in, called most days the DTs, and he used to see things and visions that weren't really real, but to him that they just kept him awake. So quick, quick, nurse, you know, come and help me. There's a rabbit under my bed and it's digging and waking me up, right come and get it.

Speaker 5: 31:57

So I thought, well, I'll go with my torch and have a look under the bed. You know, white, stiff apron on right. So down we go and have a look under the bed and no, can't see anything. No, this must be a dream, you know. So try and go back to sleep, okay. So I'll try. So I gave him a drink of Milo or something and thought he was all right. Next minute, nurse, nurse, it's happening again. This time he'd woken up all the ward. They're all awake now Keep him quiet. It's too much noise, you know.

Speaker 5: 32:31

So this time I went back and I thought, well, I've got to just think of something. So I went under the bed a bit more and I thought I'd pretend to catch this rabbit to keep him happy, you see. So I'm under the bed and making. I think I can see it. I think, oh, good, good. So as I was coming up, I thought I'll roll my apron up and pretend the rabbit's in my apron. So as I was coming up, this voice calls out from the door my name, nurse, such and such, where are you? And the fellow calls out don't disturb her. She's catching the rabbit under the bed. And it was a supervisor. It was a supervisor at the door trying to see how things were and I was under this bed. So I thought, well, look, I've got to finish this now to keep him happy. So I came up with my apron rolled up and I said I've got it. I've got it, oh good. He said, let me see it. I said, well, he might hop out. I can't let you see it.

Speaker 4: 33:33

So I'll take it now, outside, outside.

Speaker 5: 33:36

And then I looked up and here's a stunned supervisor standing at the door, arms on the hips, ready to you know, shout at me or something.

Speaker 5: 33:45

Anyway, I came out and said to him I've got her taking it outside. He was happy. He was happy, good, good, I can now go to sleep. So then I had to face a supervisor, so we just walked out the door a bit and I quickly told her the story and we both, you know, burst out laughing. Fortunately, but it was so funny because at that very time she was there and here's me with my apron rolled up.

Speaker 1: 34:14

Yes, that is funny.

Speaker 5: 34:16

Listen. The patient went to sleep sleep and the other residents were all happy and I got big thank yous, you know, for doing that.

Speaker 1: 34:24

Nursing at its finest? Yeah, at its finest. And for how many years did you nurse?

Speaker 5: 34:31

I did have 10 years off with my two daughters. Many years went on to midwifery, theatre work and then, in the end, dear age care for 18 years.

Speaker 1: 34:42

So I did a variety of work Many years went on to midwifery theatre work and then, in the end, dear aged care for 18 years 18 years, annie, in aged care yes, at the end, when you learn everything you want to know, you help the oldies, the dear oldies, don't you?

Speaker 5: 34:52

And they're wonderful. You should be up for an Order of Australia or something. So, look, you think of it and you forget. When I heard these stories of night shift, I thought I'll have to ring. One night I got caught under a bed catching a rabbit.

Speaker 1: 35:10

It's just one.

Speaker 5: 35:11

Amazing, I love it.

Speaker 1: 35:13

But, the patient went to sleep. I love it. Just a quick question those early days of nursing, back early to mid-60s, was that socially debilitating? You're a young girl nursing. What was it in terms of shift work? Did you feel as if you were out of the loop a little bit?

Speaker 5: 35:33

A little bit. I was away from home, far away, without a vehicle, train home once every three months to see my family. But I wanted to do my training in the country hospital and not the city. So I chose a country hospital about two and a half hours away, which in those days was a long way, still a long way. But fortunately I could go to sleep very quickly. So if I got four hours sound sleep after a night shift I'd be right.

Speaker 1: 36:02

Four hours yeah.

Speaker 5: 36:04

Yeah, four hours would see me, and then we'd wake up to a lecture, to a meal, and then get tea and go to work by half past 10.

Speaker 2: 36:12

Incredible.

Speaker 5: 36:13

So the day you just did it, you just did it and study in your room, do exams, you just did it, you just did it and study in your room, do exams, you just did it and I got through and won a nurse of the year actually in the end I bet you did.

Speaker 3: 36:25

You deserve that, not a surprise.

Speaker 5: 36:27

In my third year. But look, that was a big surprise. But anyway, I always wanted to be a nurse.

Speaker 1: 36:33

I bet you did. That's a great story, but just quickly one more. Sorry but just quickly one more. Do you remember in those early years?

Speaker 5: 36:40

how much you would have been earning per week. Look, some people have asked me, but not very much, True, I really. Oh no, I'd have to think about that now. I'd have to think that. But it took me three years to save up a 2,000 pound Because decimal currency came in in 66, didn't it? Yeah, it did. So it took me my three and a half years training to save up for a little green mini car, which I did Mini minor Wow.

Speaker 5: 37:06

And by the time I finished I had my little car. It took me three and a half years to save for it.

Speaker 1: 37:11

That is just fantastic, anne. What a great call. Thank you, don't be a stranger any time.

Speaker 5: 37:15

You're more than welcome. Thanks for calling in. Nurse got caught. Yes, all right.

Speaker 1: 37:19

That's fantastic. What a great story, Rod. Yeah, catch the rabbit. It's about the rabbit, but it's also-.

Speaker 2: 37:26

It's appeasing the patient. Yeah, it's appeasing the patient.

Speaker 1: 37:29

That's the gold in this, yeah, and about the inclination to care, even under obviously a little absurd circumstance.

Speaker 2: 37:41

We've all done it. We've all done that. It's fantastic 133693,.

Speaker 1: 37:45

We're going to do this when we come back. Your call is the other side for Australia Overnight. Hello to you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, alison, we'll come to you in just a tick. G'day, tony, mac and Roger, do I have my wires crossed? I understand you were saying that you should be using blue light filtering glasses right now. Yep, but here's what I think. If we say blue light suppresses the production of melatonin and that hormone makes us feel sleepy. Therefore, people who work at night should not be wearing the blue light filtering glasses. As they want to be alert at night, they should be wearing glasses during the day so the body doesn't get the blue light messaging to stay awake as they still be sleeping during the day.

Speaker 2: 41:35

All right, I just want to clarify that for you, john. First of all Good point, johnny and Blackbird. It sounds like it makes sense, but it actually doesn't, because humans are diurnal creatures. We are designed to be awake during the day and asleep at night, so we should not be seeing blue light at night at all.

Speaker 1: 41:55

And we know that because that's in our, it's in our circadian rhythm.

Speaker 2: 41:59

DNA circadian rhythm Now the other thing that's got to be important for people to understand is melatonin doesn't make us feel sleepy. Melatonin is actually the hormone that signals to the body of darkness, so it goes into a rest and digest mode. Right, so it doesn't make us feel sleepy. This is where there's a misconception from a lot of people that melatonin is like a sleeping tablet per se. Now, on this point that he's making here, we, as humans, need to be seeing daylight during the day and we need to be not seeing daylight or blue light at night, and that's why we wear blue light blocking or we have zero blue lights at night, even while we're working.

Speaker 1: 42:44

So to change that for industry, to change that, with the costs of changing all those lights, I mean here for example would be a classic example.

Speaker 2: 42:54

What's the cost to health? Someone's going to sue someone one day.

Speaker 1: 42:57

Okay, that's another topic. It is another topic, but I've had this discussion with the lighting manufacturers.

Speaker 2: 43:04

Researchers and scientists are well aware that blue light is impacting on the health of their shift working community, and yet we're looking at the levels of light. We're not looking at the quantity of blue light in it and the impact it's having on health. Someone one day will make a stance and it will change the world.

Speaker 1: 43:22

Alison in adelaide hello, say hello to, hello to Roger.

Speaker 6: 43:24

Hello sir, how are you?

Speaker 2: 43:26

Hi Alison.

Speaker 6: 43:28

I've just got a little nursing story, but I don't know if this is appropriate for this.

Speaker 1: 43:32

Yeah, please do, we're loving it.

Speaker 6: 43:34

Of course Right. So I nursed for many years as a registered nurse at the Royal Adelaide, and this one time I was on a ward and this poor little darling lady she was 96, frail as osteoporosis, but she died. So then my friend and I or colleague we had to go and lay her out and you know, do all that whatever. And so then we rang down to the orderlies and said look, we've got someone for Q2, which was the morgue. So they come up in a special lift with like a metal coffin and you just put the person in and then bring the orderlies back and they take them down. Well, so we put her in, but because her osteoporosis was so bad, the lid was stuck on her head.

Speaker 2: 44:23

I'm sorry, but I got the vision no no.

Speaker 1: 44:25

Joe, I've got a mental picture of it as well.

Speaker 6: 44:29

So we lost it Like we just could not stop laughing. Thank goodness the family weren't there.

Speaker 4: 44:34

Yep.

Speaker 6: 44:34

Anyway. So in the end we had to put her on her side and squat her legs in to get the lid on.

Speaker 2: 44:44

Yeah, that's brilliant.

Speaker 1: 44:46

Alison, that is absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 2: 44:48

That's a great story, because I've seen this sort of thing happen before with people and I think it's gold. It really is, it's gold.

Speaker 1: 44:57

How many of those great stories you got over the years, Alison?

Speaker 6: 45:01

Well, a few. I tried to get this woman. I had to lay her out because it was really busy. I'll talk quickly. She was a very obese lady, she died, and so it was really busy. So I said, look, I'll go lay her out by myself. Well, you know, washed her, put the shroud on all that sort of thing. Then I had to slip her into this big plastic envelope thing. But she got sweaty no-transcript.

Speaker 2: 48:54

They can find the podcast. It's called A Healthy Shift and it's on all the platforms. Also through the website ahealthyshiftcomau or ahealthyshiftcom is easy to find me there. Everything is there. I also have just finished coaching a client which is a listener of this show as well, with great success a truck driver. I'm looking for clients at the moment. If anyone's interested, they can reach out to me as well. Thanks so much for having me, tony. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 1: 49:22

More than what are we doing when we come back in a couple of weeks' time?

Speaker 2: 49:28

A very special guest hopefully I'm organising a really special guest from Minnesota for us to have a chat with who's just released a book called Sleep Groove, sleep Groove. Happy birthday, hayley.

Speaker 1: 49:38

Happy birthday to you, Hayley, who was in the studio with us.

Speaker 2: 49:40

Hayley is our friend of the show.

Speaker 1: 49:42

It is, we'll back the other side. It is the music quiz. If you think you're really good with a music quiz, if you jump on now, 133693. Go for it.