Speaker 1: 1:42

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.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Enjoy today's show and welcome back to A Healthy Shift, the podcast for shift workers who not only want to feel better, live healthier and take control of their work-life balance, no matter what the hours are that you're working. I'm Roger Sutherland, a veteran shift worker coach, a keynote speaker and your guide to staying healthy while living the shift work life, because you can. Now, in today's episode, we're talking about something that's going to affect every single one of us on shifts how to adjust to shift work. Now, today, I'm going to be sharing eight practical tips that can make a real difference to your energy, your sleep and your overall wellbeing. So, if you are a new shift worker or you're trying to adjust to shift, energy, your sleep and your overall wellbeing. So, if you are a new shift worker, or you're trying to adjust to shift work, or even if you've been at it for years but you still find it hard. This one is, for all of you Now, the problem with shift work.

Speaker 1: 3:14

No secret, shift work is tough. Our bodies were never designed for it. We're biologically wired to be awake when it's light and asleep when it's dark. But the reality is hospitals, police stations, emergency services, manufacturing we just run a 24-7 society today, and in fact, I can tell you that approximately 20% of the world's population are now designated shift workers and if you think about it, that means one in five people are falling into the category as a shift worker and as someone who's had to fill those hours that someone is. People like you and me, we've both done it, we've all done it. We are doing it Now.

Speaker 1: 4:02

The trouble is, shift work plays havoc with our circadian rhythm, which is our internal body clock, and that can lead to poor sleep, which then leads to fatigue, which then leads to digestion problems, which then leads to low mood, and then, before you know it, you're actually having long-term health issues. And if we don't manage it well, then these problems literally just become a cancer in our system and we've got to get on top of it and we've got to control it. And there are ways and here's the good news you can actually adjust to shift work. I know you don't believe it, but there are strategies that you can do and that's what I'm here to talk to you about today. Those strategies and that's why I'm here doing what I do today to help you, the shift worker, to cope, to thrive, giving you more energy to do the things that you love outside of your job, so it's not sucking the life out of you, things that you love outside of your job, so it's not sucking the life out of you. Now we can't do it perfectly, but we can actually do it in a way that protects our health, protects our energy and also protects our quality of life. So let's look at what eight practical tips I've actually got for you today.

Speaker 1: 5:17

Number one you ready. Set a consistent sleep schedule. Leave me to write the jokes, rog. Now, I know this is the big one, because our body absolutely loves routine and shift work disrupts that routine in a big way. But one thing that I would try to say to you, and one thing that I've learned that makes an enormous difference, is to try and anchor your sleep wake-up time as consistently as possible. Don't worry about the time you go to bed Not at this stage, right, because we can't always control that but what we can do is we can try and anchor our sleep wake-up time consistently and you get bonus points if you can go to bed at an earlier time as well.

Speaker 1: 6:01

People say to me oh, I need to stay up late to unwind after shift. No, you don't. You need to learn how to wind down quickly and rapidly so that you can get to sleep, so that you can get up at the same time. The more out of sync with this routine that you are, the worse you're going to actually feel. So the most important thing is that consistent wake-up time. We're now learning that it's not about the amount of time you're asleep, it's more about the consistency of your sleep routine and when you can control it, you absolutely should.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Most important, even your rotating shifts. We've got to try and find some consistency, even if it's just in your wake-up time or your wind-down routine. As I said before, we've got to wind down quickly. We've got to get to the stage where we can leave work, wind down quickly and get to sleep. This going home and having drinks and playing video games and watching TV and three episodes of something on Netflix and going to bed and then sleeping in.

Speaker 1: 7:01

No wonder you've got issues. This is what's causing the problems Now. This means to resist the temptation to stay up late on your days off. If you feel like you need more sleep, go the hell to bed earlier. That's what I will say. Your roster doesn't have to control your life. You can actually work with it and not against it. That's tip number one. All right, consistent wake-up time.

Speaker 1: 7:27

I think the most important thing for you to remember out of this one here, most important you can't catch up on sleep. I know you think you can. You can't. You're actually throwing yourself further and further out. The longer you sleep in on those odd days, those two days you get off, or that one day you get off, the bigger the problem you're actually going to have.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Now. The next thing that we've got to really focus on is we've got to stand at our door and we've got to look into our bedroom and we've got to go. How comfortable does that look? Does it look like somewhere that I really, really need to sleep? Excuse me, you need to treat sleep like it is the sacred cow. Your bedroom should feel like a cave. It needs to be dark, it needs to be quiet, it needs to be cool. If you're sleeping during the day, I highly highly recommend a sleep mask. Highly recommend a sleep mask. Once you get used to it, the difference is absolutely unbelievable. Or if you've got a roller blind or blackout curtains, go you. But the rule is hold your hand out at arm's length and turn it to face you and if you can see your hand, it is too light and your body won't rest properly and this is why a lot of people wake up.

Speaker 1: 8:44

If noise is an issue like kids or traffic or neighbors, then what we need is we need things like an earplug or a white noise machine. White noise machines are phenomenal. Now, I'm not talking about having a crackling fire or rain or a storm, I'm talking actual white noise. There is research behind white noise. Google white noise and what it sounds like, and then you will find that that will make an enormous difference to your sleep, because your brain focuses on that. It doesn't hear the clicking in and out of the hot water service or the heater or whatever. It doesn't notice it. And temperature really matters as well, and the sweet spot for our sleep is somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. Too hot, too cold, and your sleep quality will suffer Somewhere between 15 and 20, 18 to 20, probably even better. All right, keep that in mind, make it a rule.

Speaker 1: 9:38

There's only three things that your bedroom is for. I'll tell you All three of them start with S. One is sleep. I'll tell you all three of them start with S. One is sleep, the other one is sickness, and you can guess what the other one is. That starts with S-E-X. I mean starts with S, nothing else. No phones, no Netflix. We don't lie in bed watching TV, no scrolling. We have to protect that space and teach our body that this is where we either sleep, we're sick or we're having sex, end of story, and that's it. And it makes such a big difference to our whole environment by doing that.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Tip number three we've got to avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine before bed. This is one of the things that I see all the time oh, I've got to come home and I've got to have a couple of drinks. No, you don't. You think you do, but you don't. Alcohol is actually impacting on the quality of your sleep. Nicotine is also a stimulant and it will cause you problems as well.

Speaker 1: 11:57

And caffeine same deal. Caffeine is in your system for up to 12 hours and it is impacting on your subsequent sleep for nearly nine hours. So what we need to do is we need to make sure that we're not putting caffeine in, and I want you to remember this the less caffeine you have, the less you need it. It's that simple. The less caffeine you have, the better the sleep, the less you need the caffeine and nicotine. Well, that's an issue that you've got to deal with personally, and alcohol is not something that you need. It's something that I cut out of my life and it's made an enormous difference. And you can too. No good complaining about mum-tum and chicken wings and all the problems that we're having with dad bod if we're going to have a couple of beers before we go to bed because it's impacting on our sleep.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Now, shift workers lean on caffeine and we can actually manipulate it and use this at the right times. But coffee energy drinks we do whatever we can to stay alert on shift, but the problem comes when you have too much too late, and I've talked about how long caffeine stays in your system, but you really do need to cut, and I use this golden rule every day midnight or midday no caffeine after midnight, when you're on night shift, no caffeine after midday at any other time. If you do that, the quality of your sleep will improve. Not may will improve, I can guarantee it. So if you need a little boost overnight, you'd be surprised at the difference that water can make herbal tea.

Speaker 1: 13:37

And if you love coffee, what about decaf? Yes, it's got a bit of caffeine in it, but not enough to be a major concern. But a bit of decaf, you can still taste the coffee. I know it's a bit of a why bother? But you know what? You still get the taste of it. You can still feel like you're having it. The next one is tip four, and that is moving your body. But you've got to time it right, because exercise is one of the best tools for a shift worker, full stop.

Speaker 1: 14:02

Now, when we think of exercise, I don't want you to think of oh, you've got to put your shorts on your sing. You think of exercise. I don't want you to think of oh, you've got to put your shorts on. You, single it on. You're runners and you've got to go to the gym and you've got to lift heavy weights. That's rubbish, as beneficial as that is to people who do it and I'm one of them. I love it and I do it all the time but we've just got to get some form of movement because it boosts our mood, it helps our digestion, it supports our metabolism and here's the key exercise actually helps to regulate our body clock. That's right. It's one of the cues for our circadian rhythm. So when we exercise, and we exercise at the same time every day, we're actually telling our body where it's at in time and space.

Speaker 1: 14:44

If you aim for about 30 minutes most days, whether it's walking or strength training, going for a swim, doing Pilates, doing yoga, whatever works for you, it doesn't matter, just get it at the same time. Timing matters, just get it at the same time every day. But you've got to resist doing it too close to bedtime because it can actually make it a lot harder for you to fall asleep. It stimulates your central nervous system and it won't allow you to fall asleep. Something like yoga can be ideal, obviously because of the nature of it, but you wouldn't want to go resistance training, lifting heavy on the way home from an afternoon shift before you're going to go to bed. It's going to impact on your sleep. Coupled with the caffeine End of story and those pre-workouts that you're having 13 hours before sleep, it will impact 13 hours. So if you have it at six o'clock in the morning, you can't go to bed until seven o'clock at night Makes a big difference. Well, when I say you can't, you can go to bed, but it's going to impact on your sleep. So don't exercise too close to bedtime because it can actually make it a lot harder for you to fall asleep. You've got to give that central nervous system a chance to calm down. So try to schedule movement for at least three to four hours before you are planning on sleeping. Even something like a brisk walk after your shift, it can really make such a big difference. It really does make a difference, trust me. There's no downside to any form of movement for at least 30 minutes every single day.

Speaker 1: 16:16

Tip number five is one that's really, really important and that's staying connected with your loved ones, because you can drift apart very, very quickly. Shift work can be lonely. When you're working while others are sleeping, or you're sleeping while others are living, it's really easy to become incredibly disconnected and that loneliness will literally start to creep into your mental health. Mark my words. So you've got to make a conscious effort to stay in touch with the people who matter to you. Now reduce that friendship circle. It's okay to reduce it, but you must have people in it. You've just got to make arrangements. Organize a coffee catch-up with a friend, plan a meal together. Even just checking with a text message or a quick phone call with someone, but schedule it in and plan it and do it because human connection really matters. And try and do it with people outside of your job so that you are getting away from your job. Have a circle of friends that you can call on outside of where you work, so that you get a bit of normality in life instead of getting caught in this vortex of talking about work at work, at home and also socially. Now, I always say that shift work doesn't have to mean social isolation, because it doesn't. It's just important that you make the effort to actually connect and do that. That's tip number five.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Number six take short naps when needed. Napping is a shift worker's absolute superpower. As a shift worker, there will be times when you are dead set, running on empty. I know that. But a short nap can actually save you, and if you feel like you can't nap because you feel like it takes you too long to come out of it, then you've not napped, you've actually slept. It needs to be 20 to 30 minutes maximum, just enough to release that sleep pressure, refresh you, without sending you into that deep sleep where you wake up with that sleep inertia, which none of us want. That sleep inertia is when you feel really groggy and you just cannot wake up and you wish to God you'd never laid down. That is sleep inertia is when you feel really groggy and you just cannot wake up and you wish to God you'd never laid down. That is sleep inertia. If you nap for 20 to 30 minutes, that won't happen. It's just really important that you just power nap and learn how to power nap. Put that eye mask on, lay on the couch and have that power nap. It makes a world of difference.

Speaker 1: 19:00

Now, this can be especially helpful before a night shift or even if you've had broken sleep during the day just to have that 20 to 30 minute nap before you go in. It can literally be life-changing. Some people call it a power nap and they are absolutely spot on. Just keep it short. Try not to nap too close to your main sleep time. All right, so don't come home after day shift and lounge around until four o'clock and then sleep for an hour and a half, because, yeah, that's going to impact on your night's sleep.

Speaker 1: 19:28

Of course, it is Tip number seven use light to your advantage. Light is one of the most powerful tools In fact, it is the most powerful tool to literally adjust your body clock when you want to feel awake and alert. You need to get that. Bright daylight. Natural daylight is best. The lights inside your house are not enough. There's insufficient blue light in them. There's less than 20% blue and we need more than that. So we need to get outside in the daylight. Even on an overcast, wet, dreary, miserable day daylight is still better, with better quality blue in it, than it is inside your house. Grab that coffee and go and sit outside for an hour, half an hour, just go and do that, simple.

Speaker 1: 20:15

But when you want to wind down and when you want to go to sleep, this is when we need to dim the lights. We need to avoid all screens and we need to block that blue light. Night shift workers, when you're coming home, use blue light blocking glasses on the way home to avoid triggering your brain into seeing blue and thinking, oh, it's daytime, because that daylight that you're getting is the blue light that triggers our brain into being awake. There's some shift workers and I've got clients that use light therapy lamp to actually give you light, like proper light, so that you are telling your body it's awake time. If you're getting very little natural light, this can really help you. This can help with your mood, your energy and even sleep regulation.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Think about how you feel in the wintertime when you go to work in the dark, come home in the dark, you don't see any natural daylight. You start to get what we call SAD, seasonal Affective Disorder. It's no mistake that we feel miserable during the day in the winter, and how good we feel in the summer. It's because of the light and it makes such a massive, massive big difference to us All. Right, so light, using light to your advantage, just 20 minutes to half an hour in the morning when you first wake up, can make a huge difference. When you first wake up, can make a huge difference.

Speaker 1: 21:40

And my final tip, and one of the most important, is to get help if you are struggling and I would highly recommend that you start and you establish a relationship with some form of therapist, psychologist or someone along the way from early in your shift working career, because shift work is going to impact on your mental health and they will see the change. Start those conversations with your doctor Continually. Check in with your doctor. Find one that you've got all the time. I've been with my doctor for 20 years and he knows the ins and outs of me literally. But he had noticed the changes in me with my mental health. He saw the changes. It wasn't a battle. I didn't have to go and see doctor with my mental health. He saw the changes. It wasn't a battle. I didn't have to go and see Dr Howlong or whatever. He saw the changes. He knew the changes because he knew how different I had become and what had actually happened.

Speaker 1: 22:30

And it means that you're not starting at rock bottom when you need to get that support. When you buy a car, your first service is at 1,500 kilometers and then you get it serviced at every 10,000 kilometers or 5,000 or 10,000 kilometers after that, and you do that to give it a grease and oil change, and you should be doing the same with yourself as well all the time. Go and talk about it. Go and clear it out. Go and have a relationship with your therapist. Go and form a relationship so that they can see the changes your therapist. Go and form a relationship so that they can see the changes, because when you are really struggling, sleep can actually feel quite impossible. Your mood can really deteriorate, you get really tired. This is the time for you to ask for help, because it could mean you need to speak to your doctor or seeing a sleep specialist or talking to someone about your own mental health.

Speaker 1: 23:20

Now I've coached so many shift workers who thought they just had to suck it up, but actually a few small changes or even the right advice had actually quickly turned things around, and I can think of half a dozen clients that we've literally turned it all around just through my own experience in coaching them to make such a massive difference in their life for them, and that is incredibly rewarding for me. Now, I don't profess to be a counsellor, but what I do is help people with like these eight tips, which helps them to support their own mental health with what they're doing, because they don't realise how it's slipping away from them, and I want you to know you don't have to do this alone. There are tools, there's resources, there's people like me who can help you with shift work, from just surviving to actually thriving in shift work. That's literally what I'm here for. I did the 40 years in the cops. I know what it's like. I know what it's like how you feel. I know the isolation. I know what it's like to raise a family. I've got two children of my own. Well, they're not children anymore, they're doing that job themselves and I support them through that. But this is a situation that we all need support, and we do, and I'm here. But there's so many tools and resources. So, closing thoughts, let's just quickly recap the eight tips.

Speaker 1: 24:44

One is set a consistent sleep schedule. At least wake up at the same time. Create a comfortable sleep environment. Stand at the doorway to your bedroom and look in and say is that a really inviting place to be? If it's cluttered, your sleep's going to be cluttered. Be. If it's cluttered, your sleep's going to be cluttered. Avoid caffeine, alcohol and nicotine before bed. They will impact on your sleep, not. Oh, it doesn't affect me. Yes, it does. End of story. Yeah, you can have caffeine and you can go to sleep. No doubt I can do that, but it doesn't mean I'm getting good, deep, restorative sleep. What it means is when I wake, I can't go back to sleep.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Move your body regularly, some form of movement. You don't have to go and do some body pump class. You can literally just go and do yoga or Pilates or something like that. Go for a walk Simple, stay connected with people, take short naps, learn it's a superpower. Use light to your advantage and get help if you are really struggling. Remember you can't always control the shift, but you can control how you support yourself around the shift, and that's what you have to do.

Speaker 1: 25:54

All right, if you found this episode helpful, I'd love you to share it with your workmates or with a colleague, or just share it to your Instagram story so others can learn from it as well.

Speaker 1: 26:04

And if anyone else is navigating the world of shift work, share it with them as well. And don't forget, I've got loads more resources to help you at ahealthyshiftcom Plus. I've got the Shift Workers Collective there, which is our growing subscription-based community where we all support each other 24-7. I want to say thanks for listening. My name is Roger Sutherland and this has been a healthy shift. I want you to take care and I really and truly want you to stay well and find more energy to do the things that you love outside of your shift working life. 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.