Speaker 1: 1:12

We've all been there, we've been on night shift and we're just working and we just sit there and we close our eyes. I'll just rest my eyelids for a second Next minute. Oh my God, where did the last 10 or 15 minutes go In today's episode? I want to cover. I'll just rest my eyes a little. How can we stay awake during our actual shift wake, during our actual shift? Shift work can be brutal, but it doesn't have to be.

Speaker 1: 1:43

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 rigours of shift work but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and wellbeing so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's show and welcome back to a Healthy Shift podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:18

I am your host, roger Sutherland, and today we're tackling a struggle that I could almost practically guarantee that every single shift worker that is listening to this knows too well, and that's the battle against that fatigue when you're working long hours You've been there you get to the stage where your eyes get heavy and you start nodding off at your desk and you think I'll just close my eyes for a little minute. Next minute, you jolt your wake and you think, oh no, what's happened? Where have I been? Have I missed something? And this is the reality of shift work. But the good news is there are strategies, without pinching ourselves or banging our finger with a hammer or something like that, that can help you to stay alert, although they will work, but they can help you to stay alert and focus without overloading on energy, drinks or caffeine. So let's dive into it.

Speaker 1: 3:14

So let's understand the fatigue battle, because shift work throws a wrench in our natural body clock. All right, so we are a natural diurnal creature, which means that we should be sleeping when it's dark and we should be awake when it's daylight. It is literally that simple. We are not designed to work overnight, but we're being pushed into this 24-7 society that's required us to be present Police, nurses. It just goes on and on and on. As to everybody who is involved Paramedics, uber drivers, taxi drivers, pilots, long-haul flight attendants and industry demands that we are around 24-7. Let's face it you order that Amazon delivery and you expect it to be there the next day. That doesn't happen without shift workers. It literally has to be, and everybody that does shift work has that moment of oh my God, I'm so tired, I have to close my eyes.

Speaker 1: 4:15

So what is there that we can actually do about it? So, first of all, I know that you're going to say caffeine, but we can actually, as a shift worker, caffeine is actually something that we can strategically use and use it really well. So let's start with caffeine, because it is the go-to for so many of us. Because it is the go-to for so many of us. But here's the catch because too much caffeine will make things even worse. Because I want you to stop for one second and have a think. If you didn't sleep well, how much caffeine did you have in the shift before? If you're on night shift Now, you might come home and say, oh, caffeine doesn't affect me, I'm able to go to sleep, no problems at all.

Speaker 1: 4:57

But I get up and I have to go to the toilet and then, once I'm awake, I can't go back to sleep. That's caffeine. All right, you've got to understand. That's the caffeine. Now, we're not designed to sleep during the day. I get that.

Speaker 1: 5:10

But even though you can go to sleep, you might think, oh, caffeine doesn't affect me, but caffeine really does severely impact on our sleep, and what we need to do is we need to use it strategically. I will tell you this categorically the less caffeine that you have, the less you need it. It's literally that simple. It's not that it's addictive, but it's because the more caffeine you have, the less sleep you get, the less restorative quality sleep you get, and the more caffeine you have, the less sleep you get, the less restorative quality sleep you get, and the more caffeine you then need. So those energy drinks that you're slamming down overnight are impacting on your sleep, meaning that you need more energy drinks the next day. And this is what actually happens, and I'll tell you the truth. Research shows that just 107 milligrams of caffeine, which is literally one pod of an espresso that's it. One pod of an espresso will impact on your sleep for up to 8.8 hours. 8.8 hours, it will impact on sleep. This is how powerful caffeine is and how resilient we become to it while we're awake, but it impacts massively on our sleep while we are trying to sleep. So keep this in mind.

Speaker 1: 6:24

However, let me put this on it as well we can also use caffeine very strategically as a shift worker to help us. So if you have caffeine at the start of your shift to kickstart that alertness and get going, then that's fantastic and it will keep us going. But we need to avoid it in that last half of our shift. In fact, we need to really avoid it in the nine hours prior to us going to sleep, because this will then prevent it from interfering with our sleep when we do finally get home and we want to sleep. Less caffeine the better the sleep. It is that simple. But what we can do is we can have small and steady amounts early on in our shift, which will work better than a massive caffeine hit. Hear me out for a second If you were to sip on tea during your shift with that small amount of caffeine, because we demonize caffeine so much.

Speaker 1: 7:22

But if you sip on tea that doesn't have as much caffeine in it and you just sipped on it overnight, it provides enough blockage to keep us going overnight. But it's when we start slamming down again those energy drinks or we have long blacks and we drink those two or three overnight is where we actually end up with the problem. So what I'm saying to you is trickling small amounts of caffeine over the night will actually help to sustain you and keep you going. All right, remember, small, steady, not massive caffeine hits, because when you get that massive caffeine hit, you crash again. All right, so you could try green tea or even matcha for a gentler boost of caffeine, or just a normal tea. A bit of caffeine, not so bad. Big amounts of caffeine, big problem.

Speaker 1: 8:14

The other thing that we have is our shift worker superpower, which I've spoken about before, and it's those power naps, because these are the ultimate fatigue buster. They really are, and when you get them right, you'll use them and manipulate them into your shift really well, because a short power nap before your shift, before you go in, can be a game changer. Because a lot of people, a lot of people, come home from work, go straight to bed, sleep, wake up early, can't go back to sleep, so they're just tossing and turning, napping, waking, snoozing, getting up, and then they're awake, from the time they get up right the way through until they start their next shift, and then they're trying to work through and push through the next shift and then they're trying to work through and push through the next shift. It's kind of ironic that as nine-to-fivers, we work, then we play and then we sleep, and then we work and then we play and then we sleep. But a shift worker sleeps and then plays and then works, and that's the difference, because you're exhausted by the time you actually get to work. Have a think about that, so that 20-minute nap before work, 20 minutes is all it is.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Now a lot of people avoid naps because it makes them feel worse. But one of the biggest problems that you have is you're sleeping too long. You need to nap literally 20 minutes, 25 minutes, get up, get going again. You'll feel a bit groggy for four or five minutes, but then you'll come good and you will feel amazing. It makes a big difference and, if your workplace allows it, a 10 to 15 minute nap on break can literally reset your brain. Keep that in mind. Don't just go there and scroll your phone or watch TV on a break. Go into a quiet room and get yourself a 15 minute nap. It'll make such a big difference to you. But you must avoid those longer naps during your shift because they can leave you feeling really groggy and really ordinary and out of sorts instead of feeling refreshed. So that's the power nap and it's always going to be my priority.

Speaker 1: 10:14

The other one is to move your body. Physical activity is literally one of the best ways to snap yourself out of drowsiness. Now I'm not telling you to go for a run, although if you want to do that, but just by standing up and stretching or doing a few air squats or taking yourself for a nice walk, a brisk walk, can make a big difference. Get outside, if possible. Go outside and get some fresh air and if it's daytime, get some daylight exposure. This will help to reset your internal clock. Even small movements like just rolling your shoulders or stretching your arms or standing up and moving around, lifting one leg, then lifting the other, keeping circulation going, will help you to feel more awake. So move your body. And again I will raise this one again.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Point number four hydration. Hydration is the key. Dehydration leads to fatigue, so make sure that you're drinking enough water throughout your shift. Sip on it, just small sips regularly, instead of chugging large amounts. Small sips regularly will help you to regulate a lot better than just thinking, oh, I haven't had a drink for a while and then trying to slam down a liter. It will make 16 ounces or whatever 32 ounces. Don't try and do that. Just sip regularly, keep your bottle in front of you and just continually sip it Much better. And, honestly, if plain water just simply bores, you, get yourself a soda stream and fizz the water Makes it taste different. Or add a splash of lemon. Or even just try herbal teas, because they actually are still contributing to your water intake.

Speaker 1: 11:52

And number five is to eat smart for sustained energy and this is where our lower GI foods come in Really important, because what you eat plays a huge role in your energy levels. Opt for protein and complex carbs instead of sugar-heavy snacks that lead to those energy crashes. We've got to avoid those spikes and crashes. So if you aim for nuts, greek yogurt, boiled eggs, whole grain crackers, cheese they're all great options to have together to give you sustained energy, instead of reaching for that goddamn vending machine and grabbing chips and chocolate, which just don't fill you and they're enormously calorically dense, and that's where the weight gain comes from. What you want to try and do is have a nice heavy meal before you go in for your night shift and then what you want to do is you want to try and fast overnight, but try to avoid heavy meals during your shift because it puts an enormous strain on your system and we don't want that food coma in the middle of our night shift.

Speaker 1: 12:58

Number six is to engage your brain. Sometimes your body's awake but your brain is still drifting off. Ain't that the truth? So, switching up tasks to keep your mind engaged as well, by just doing different things. Chat with a co-worker, start talking about different things, just to keep yourself mentally active. You don't have to like them, they're just a colleague and they're serving a purpose. They're keeping you awake. And if you're in a position to listen to some upbeat type of music or even a podcast, I've got a good one, maybe this one that will keep your brain stimulated and you'll educate yourself and learn at the same time.

Speaker 1: 13:35

And the other thing breathing and cold water tricks. Believe it or not, splashing cold water on your face or your wrist, going into the bathroom, splashing cold water on your face or on your wrist can give you an instant wake-up effect as well. It can be a really, really good and really handy strategy because of what it does in actually activating that sympathetic side of your brain as well to get the autonomic nervous system to get you going. And deep breathing exercises like the 4-7-8 method, by breathing in for a count of four, holding for a count of seven and letting go for a count of eight can actually boost those oxygen levels in your body and actually can wake you up naturally as well. I know it's not easy, it's something that's really difficult, but that nap or you're feeling that ridiculously sleepy. I've just given you seven strategies that you can go through that will really help you to just do simple little things to keep you awake, to get you through that shift safely. But I do highly recommend that power nap if you can do it at any stage, really really important, especially if you've got to drive home. So, shift workers, next time you feel like your eyes are getting heavy, don't just push through it. Try some of those strategies and they may very well change or save your life, because a mix of movement, smart nutrition, hydration and that strategic caffeine use can make all the difference in staying sharp and safe on shift.

Speaker 1: 15:10

If you found this episode helpful, please don't forget to hit follow and turn on your alerts and share it with your fellow shift worker who might need a little help staying awake. And, as always, take care of yourself. You, shift worker, deserve it. I'll see you next time on a Healthy Shift Podcast. 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 ahealthyshiftcom. I'll catch you on the next one.