Speaker 1: 1:17

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 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 the Healthy Shift Podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:59

I'm Roger Sutherland and today we are talking about something very, very simple but extremely powerful. Now hear me out. It's your wake-up routine. Now I'm not talking about some fluffy, picture-perfect morning with candles and mantras, standing in front of the mirror telling yourself you're awesome, although you can do that if you wish. I'm talking about what actually works for us, the shift worker. People who don't live on a nine-to-five schedule In fact, nine-to-fivers can absolutely use this and would benefit enormously from it. People need real strategies, they don't need fantasy, so let's get straight into it. It's a short and sharp grabby one.

Speaker 1: 2:38

Today, first thing you got to do when you wake up and here's a habit that's horrendous that you're going to have to break Don't touch your phone Once you wake up. This is rule number one for you every single morning. Don't reach for your phone, seriously. Every single morning Don't reach for your phone. Seriously. Don't check your notifications, emails or your socials. That screen and what it's giving you is going to scramble your brain before the day even begins. Nothing good comes from it. If you think about it, you just reach for it and you aimlessly scroll. Got to check the email? Oh, what's happening on the socials. Who's doing what? The brightness, the information overload, the cortisol spike, is not how you want to start your day. Just get up and take yourself to the bathroom because, let's face it, that's where we all got to go when we first wake up, to get rid of that bodily waste that it's been working on all night. So that's the first one Rule one do not touch your phone.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Number two let's let the light in Once you come back from the bathroom, open the curtains and let that morning light flood back in. Two things you can do here. You can try by jumping back into bed for a few minutes, or you can just sit on the edge of the bed and just look out the window. Now, before anybody at me, I know that in certain parts of the world it's going to be pitch black when you wake up. What we are doing here is we are cashing in on the days that we can. We are controlling the controllable. So what we're going to do is open the curtains and let the morning light in. And we're going to do is open the curtains and let the morning light in. Well, we're going to lay there or sit there with our eyes open and we're literally just going to take in the daylight, just drink in that daylight into the eyes.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Why is this? Because this gives our brain a chance to actually go okay, this is where we're at it's daytime. Suppress all that sleep hormones, suppress everything sleep related. Let's get ourselves. Let's get that cortisol up, let's get ourselves going and let's get going and into the day. We don't want it from the phone, we don't want the news, we don't want to know what the hell is happening with work. We just want light. And why? Because the morning light resets your circadian rhythm. It helps your brain and body know that it's time to be awake and it will queue up your energy and your hormones for the day ahead. Natural light exposure first thing equals better sleep later. Especially important for us shift workers.

Speaker 1: 5:15

That's step two. Let the light in Number three. Skip the coffee machine, for now. Relax, I'm not taking it off you Now. This one is definitely going to ruffle a few feathers out there.

Speaker 1: 5:28

But don't head for the coffee machine yet why. I'll tell you why. We automatically just do it. We go and get caffeine. Oh, I need caffeine to wake up. Caffeine doesn't wake you up. Caffeine is not energy. Let me say that again. Caffeine contains zero energy. It doesn't fuel you. It just blocks the chemical that tells your brain that you're tired, and this is called adenosine. And that's it. The coffee molecule imitates the adenosine molecule and blocks the adenosine receptor and prevents adenosine from getting to that receptor and making you tired. That's what it does. We do this out of habit. We get up, we turn the coffee machine on and away we go. It's automatic. But first thing in the morning, your body doesn't need a blocker, it actually needs water. And that brings me out of step three, which you skip the coffee machine into.

Speaker 1: 6:25

Step four rehydrate first. Now you've just spent six to eight hours horizontal breathing, sweating, maybe even mouth breathing, and you've lost water and you haven't replaced any. So when we get to the kitchen, we're going to grab a big tumbler of water and we're going to drink at least 500 mil of water. Now, for you in America, you'll have to convert that 500 ml to ounces, but that's what we need to do. It's two cups.

Speaker 1: 6:59

I drink nearly 1.8 litres in the morning to get going. That's where I'm at now. I won't drink any more than that because there's no need going. That's where I'm at now. I won't drink any more than that because there's no need, but that's what I drink. I've built up to that. A lot of people do this as well. But 500 ml if you think that's a lot, you need more. You actually need more in. So it's really important Now.

Speaker 1: 7:21

This rehydration actually kickstarts your digestion. This sets you up for the day, it supports blood flow and it will actually help your brain to literally fire up properly. It's what your body actually wants, not caffeine. It will help to flush out the toxins from overnight that your brain and your body has been working on eradicating and then flush them out. And guess what? Then, when you do finally have that coffee, oh, it tastes so much. That's step four rehydration. Step five we want fuel, real fuel.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Now here's where most of us get it wrong. We wake up, crash, bang, crash, toilet straight off into the fridge, chuck the clothes on, grab an energy drink out the door, scull that all the way to work. We're short on time, we're rushing, so we just grab that from the fridge. But let's be honest. I want to be clear with you so that you understand this A zero sugar energy drink equals zero calories. Zero calories equals zero energy. Calories are a unit of energy, just so you understand. They are a unit of energy and when there's zero calories, there's zero energy. Understand this. You're drinking a can of stimulants with no fuel. It's no wonder you crash by mid-morning. So instead, here's what I want you to do Put flavored protein milk in your fridge.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Now. Here in Australia we have various ones. There's the Rokeby Farms, there's the Oat Plus, there's the Rokeby Bold Brews with the caffeine in it. There's a whole range Farmer's Market or whatever it is. They've got some as well. Aldi, you've got them. You can just go in.

Speaker 1: 9:09

You can get protein milk, protein, flavored milk. This has got protein which is going to preserve muscle and it's going to keep you to fuller for longer. Most of them have got about 30 grams of protein in it. This is ideal way to start your day. It's got milk, which is great for hydration. It gives you calcium and get. This milk is high in electrolytes as well, which is going to help you to charge up and get going as well, which is going to help you to charge up and get going. Plus, it's got 300, plus actual calories, which is going to fuel your brain and your body. I want you to remember these calories are in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy for the brain and central nervous system. For our body, that's the fuel you need and that is literally what gets you going.

Speaker 1: 9:57

Go to the fridge, grab your Oak Plus or your Rokeby Farms or whatever, and take that and sip on that. You watch the difference that this makes to your life. Forget your Red Bulls and your Monsters. Get out there with your flavoured milk. And I'm not talking big M's and things like that with the added sugar. I'm talking about the no added and things like that with the added sugar. I'm talking about the no added sugar protein milks.

Speaker 1: 10:20

The next thing you need to do is you need to get outside and get moving. Now I'm talking a day off here, as soon as you can get outside and move, even just for five or ten minutes, even just a short walk around the block. Why outside? Because those lights inside your house, even with all the lights on, are around about 500 lux of light. Daylight, even on a cloudy day, when you step outside, is more than 10,000 lux of light. That is enormous difference in light and this is one of the reasons why people are so flat that spend the whole time indoors inside their house. Even with the lights on, there's not enough light. It's the blue light that we need from outside, which helps to reset that circadian rhythm and really locks in our body clock to its daytime. The bonus this will actually help you to sleep later. It tells your body that this is day so it can later switch properly into night as it starts getting dark Light movement natural, free, goddamn, it's powerful.

Speaker 1: 11:31

It's incredibly powerful. It's incredibly powerful. They're my six steps Now. I understand they're not all easy to do every day, but we can do them on a lot of days. Apologies, right, so let's recap this.

Speaker 1: 11:49

So here's your new wake-up routine. Give it a try. Don't touch your phone, go to the bathroom, open the curtains and take in that daylight for 15 minutes. 10 to 15 minutes, rehydrate before your caffeine, eat real food with energy like a protein milk, and then get outside and move. It's simple, it's doable and it's just incredibly effective, and everyone that's tried it comes back to me and says I cannot believe the difference that this actually makes.

Speaker 1: 12:19

So here is your challenge. I want you to give this routine a go for one week. Get up at the same time and do this for one week, seven days, that's it. And then I want you to ask yourself how do I feel? Do I actually have more energy? Am I less groggy? Am I sleeping better and waking up better? Because let me ask you this how is your current routine working for you right now?

Speaker 1: 12:49

So let's stop doing what we've always done just because it's easy. That's our comfort zone. Get out of that. Try this instead. Let me know how you go. I'd love to hear your feedback. So thanks for listening. I'm Roger Sutherland. This is a Healthy Shift podcast and until next time, take care of yourself and give this a go. I'd love to hear from you. 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.