Speaker 1: 1:41

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 a Healthy Shift Podcast. I'm your host, roger Sutherland, a veteran shift worker, nutritionist, a coach and someone who's always on the lookout for ways to help you, the shift worker, to manage the challenges of your 24-7 work.

Speaker 1: 2:36

Today, I want to share something just a little bit different. Anybody that follows me on social media will know that behind me in my videos, I have a bookshelf full of books. But what would be my top 10 absolute must-read books for someone who wanted to learn about themselves, and also particularly in a shift working world? Now I want to make this one quite clear. This is not just for shift workers. This one here is for anybody that wants to actually learn about themselves or self-improvement. These are the books that have had a massive and I mean massive impact on me, both personally and also professionally, and ones that I believe that you can really benefit from in some way. I'm not going to babble on, I'm going to keep it short, and I'm going to keep it sharp, and I'll explain to you why each one made the list. Now let's start with my number one book that, if you haven't read, you must read. I don't care who you are in life today, you will learn something from my number one book, which is Atomic Habits by James Clear. This one is a total and utter, absolute no-brainer. It's all about how making small changes consistently will lead to big results. Now, I've seen this in shift work time and time again in my coaching in people that I speak to. One of the biggest problems that people have is they say, oh, I can't do this or I can't do that. And it's never the habit that fails. What it is, it's the process that you put in place to execute the habit. Have a think about that. It's not the habit that fails, it's the process that you put in place to execute it. Now I've employed some really simple strategies out of this book that have made an enormous difference and even at the moment in our Shift Workers Collective we're running a 1% Better Me Challenge, and it's all about putting little habits in place and then actually just continually layering them up like an onion to actually continually get better and better until they become part of life. And this is a theory that I got from Atomic Habits and it's really good. You just need to build the habits that stick, even when you're tired or you are working nights, and this book will give you the tools to do that. So number one, and always will be number one, is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Speaker 1: 5:17

My second favorite book of all time is a book that I highly highly recommend that you listen to as an audio book, and the book's title is Lifetime and it's by Professor Russell Foster. I found this book incredibly engaging because Russell Foster talks. If you wanted to listen to Russell Foster speak, just get on Spotify and do a search for Professor Russell Foster and hear him speak. It's like your grandfather telling you a story. Now, russell Foster is actually a neuroscientist who breaks down how our body clocks work. Now this is where I learn and have learned an awful lot and what happens to our bodies when we actually fight them. Hello shift workers. Does this sound familiar? What happens when we fight them is we live out of sync with the natural rhythm of the body, so understanding circadian biology is really crucial. Now, this book is science heavy, but it is so easy to listen to because of the way Professor Foster actually talks and tells the stories about it. You'll find it an incredibly easy listen, but I highly recommend it. It helped me explain a lot of the why behind sleep and alertness, long-term health, reproduction, everything. It is a fascinating book. It is my absolute number two favorite book and I would highly recommend that you get hold of that. So that's Lifetime by Professor Russell Foster.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Number three is a book by a man I've interviewed twice on the podcast, who just absolutely blows me away whenever I speak to him and the more I read about what he puts on his sub stack and the blogs he puts out, and that is the Light Doctor by Dr Martin Moore Ede, and it's a fantastic book. Highly recommend that you read it. It is written not for scientists. It's not written as science heavy, because scientists already know all of this stuff. This is written for you, the consumer, to actually just digest and completely understand.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Now, dr Martin Moore Eed was ahead of his time when it comes to the light and circadian rhythms. I can tell you that Dr Martin Moorheed and his team were the ones that discovered the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the human and from there and that's the body's master clock, and from there he was one of the first to connect artificial lighting to actual sleep disruption and the decline in human health. And it's got, I think, approximately 240 odd references in the back of the book. Not that they're important, but if you really wanted to geek out, you can go and have a read of all of those in the back of the book. But what I love is how he shows. The light isn't just something that we see, it is literally something that programs us every single day. Now, if you're on nights or early mornings, this book will help you to understand literally how to get your light diet right, how light impacts your biology, it impacts on your health, it impacts on your hunger and it will teach you what there is that you can actually do about it. That's book number three, the Light Doctor, by Dr Martin Moreed, and that would literally slide into third place for me anyway.

Speaker 1: 8:56

The next one is one that I also suggest that you listen to as an audio book, and it's the book Breath by James Nestor. You would think that something that we all do every single day, that we take for granted. You would think that we all get it right, but we actually all get it wrong. Now this one really changed how I think about something that we do take for granted, and that is breathing. Now James Nesta really digs into how most of us are breathing the wrong way and how that affects our energy, our sleep, our stress and even our digestion. Now I've applied a lot of the simple techniques in this book myself, especially around nasal breathing, and it's made a noticeable difference in my own personal life, in recovery and stress. It's amazing how, when you learn to breathe properly or you learn strategies around how to breathe in particular situations, when you practice this, you can then fall back on it at times of stress or when you are actually struggling. That's Breath by James Nestor, excellent book. Highly recommend that.

Speaker 1: 10:13

If you're on Spotify, you can also search for James Nestor and listen to some of the podcasts he's on. He will hold you riveted as to how we go about breathing and in this book, breath, he actually narrates the book himself and then his colleague runs you through a whole series of breathwork practices at the end of the book and it's really really good to follow that way. Much easier to listen to someone talking you through it than it is to actually try and follow it and do it at the same time. Right, that's book number four, breath by James Nestor. Book number five is a book I recently read someone who I'm going to get onto the podcast, and that is Lynn Peebles, and she has written the book the Inner Clock. Wow, my goodness me.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Now, this one here is not as science-y as Lifetime by Professor Russell Foster. It covers much the same principles, but in a much easier way that we can digest it. This book gives us a great overview of our actual internal biological clock and how it actually affects everything from our sleep to our metabolism, to our mental health and how, once it starts to go out of sync, all of these things start to really decline. Now, it's not as technical as Russell Foster's lifetime, but it is all still very, very evidence-based and backed by research. I really do recommend this book to anyone new to the concept of circadian rhythms maybe even a really good place to start and it's narrated extremely well, not by Lynn herself, but it's narrated by someone who really explains it really well. Now, this book is good, especially for shift workers, who are just starting to learn why their body is fighting them at certain times of the day.

Speaker 1: 12:07

I highly recommend this book. I'm looking forward to getting Lynn onto the podcast. She has agreed and I need to make that happen, because it is a really good book and she conducts an experiment on herself in a bunker, which is just great. It's a great listen. I listen to this book as well.

Speaker 1: 13:47

Highly recommended into number five for me, the book number six very, very similar thread as well, by a person who I'm proud to call a friend, and that's Dr Olivia Walsh and her book, which is called Sleep Groove. Now, this one here is really lighthearted and it's very visual as well, and that's why I really love this book. Now, I did a review on this on my Instagram. Dr Walsh is a sleep researcher and she uses cartoons and very simple theories to explain very, very complex ideas, which gives you a really good insight into what it is that she's trying to explain. Now, this is a great starting point for people who find sleep science very intimidating, because it is, and I often recommend this book to clients because it helps to break down really tricky concepts into a fun and very, very digestible way. If you are someone who struggles with sleep, one of the things that we've got to learn is it's not about reaching for what medication helps for sleep. It's about understanding why all of these things go out and what it is that causes the problems, and when we work on those, it actually rectifies our sleep issues.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Sleep Groove by Dr Olivia Walsh another excellent read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I listened to that as well. It's not narrated by Olivia, but it's narrated by someone, because I've spoken to Olivia I could not tell you how often and this book is actually narrated by someone who, well, it could be her twin sister. It's really narrated very, very well. So, number five, the Inner Clock, and number six, the Sleep Groove very, very similar books, excellent books, highly recommended. They're my ones that are talking about habits and circadian rhythms and light and the impacts and all of those things.

Speaker 1: 15:46

What I want to talk about now is a book that had a massive impact on me, and I mean a really, really big impact. It's a book that was recommended to me by someone many, many years ago when I was really struggling and I thought, oh no, it doesn't sound very good. And the book is called the Resilience Project and it's by Hugh van Kylenburg. Now this book hits really deep, believe it or not. I listened to this book as well, because I think Hugh Van Kylenburg is an excellent storyteller and I think having him actually narrating his own book gives another depth, another level to a book that you really really need to read. Hugh shares stories of his work with kids in tough situations and it talks about the three principles what I call the GEM principles, which is gratitude, empathy and mindfulness and how implementing those into your life can literally change lives itself. Now, I really related to this on a personal level after four decades in frontline policing and what happened to me towards the end. It made me look at the things that I was grateful for and mindful practice to keep me going and keep me stepping forward. It is an excellent book. It is really really well narrated by Hugh, highly recommended, and I would suggest that if you are a shift worker that is constantly under pressure and constantly stressed even though you might not realize that you're stressed but it's a book that I would highly recommend that you listen to and actually learn and understand the principles, the GEM principles, which is gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, it will make such a difference. It really is such an excellent book.

Speaker 1: 17:38

That's number seven. It's called the Resilience Project and it's by Hugh VanColemberg. Number eight no secret slips in there is Hugh van Kolenberg's second book, which is called Let Go. Now, this was a follow-up book to the Resilience Project. It's a lot more raw and very, very personal. The book was written out of the diary that he created as he was going through his own therapy sessions, coming out of COVID and how he was battling with that. He talks about his own struggles and the actual importance of letting go of controlling your life and letting go of perfection. I found this book incredibly powerful and one that really hit me hard, especially as a coach, because we often are pushing ourselves far too hard, thinking that we need to have it all together all the time and we've got to be that person, but sometimes stepping back and just letting go is where real growth happens. This is where I learned from the book Let Go by Hugh Van Kylenburg, and that's my number eight book. It is brilliant. So there you go. Seven and eight by Hugh Van Kylenburg. He's got two in my top 10. Well, well-deserved Number nine. Really interesting title.

Speaker 1: 19:00

I wasn't sure about this one here because I've seen plenty of nutrition books around the place, but I decided I'd give this one a crack because of how highly rated it is. The book is called Is Butter a Carb and the book is by Rosie Saund and Helen West. Now I read this and as I was reading it, I got my highlighting texture out and I got my pencil out. I was ringing and I was highlighting and I was underlining and I was going through and I thought, my God, this is such a good book For people who know nothing about nutrition with all of the misinformation that is out there in the world today. I think everybody should read. Is butter a carb? Now, we all know butter's not a carb, it's a fat, isn't it Right? And if you didn't know that, you now know.

Speaker 1: 19:50

But if you've ever been confused by nutrition myths, then this book actually clears them all up, with humor and a little bit of science sprinkled in as well. It's all science back, but it's done with humor. It is very clever and it is a really good book to read. It's actually written by two registered dietitians. It is a super, super easy read and I love how they tackle the questions that I hear all the time from shift workers carbs, fats, detoxes, metabolism. Anyway, I won't ruin it. It's all fact-based and it's free from the usual diet culture nonsense. It's not selling anything other than just the theories of what's absolute rubbish in the nutrition world and it will give you a much better understanding and I guarantee I guarantee that you'll have many oh what or aha moments as you go through this book. So number nine is Butter a Car by Rosie Saund and Helen West.

Speaker 1: 20:51

My tenth and last book, but absolutely not least, is another one. Every single client that comes to me, every single person and everything that's out there is all about fat loss, everything. Everyone's overweight, everyone wants to lose fat, they all want to look a certain way and be a certain way. A person that I followed on social media for the best part of seven, maybe eight, years is Ben Carpenter, and Ben's book Everything Fat Loss is absolutely brilliant and he's done an incredible job of actually taking all of the noise out of fat loss advice. Now this book is completely evidence-based. It's honest. It's refreshingly free from any hype, which is about he's not trying to sell anything. He's not selling you that you've got to go carnivore or you've got to go vegetarian, you've got to go vegan, and here's my supplements that you've got to take. And what I appreciated most in this book, and also about Ben, is that he explains why fat loss is hard, but how should we approach it with the right mindset. It's one that I often recommend to shift workers who want results but are actually overwhelmed by conflicting advice. Ben, it's a good, it's a great book and Ben's done a fantastic job with it. And he's actually followed it up with another book as well Hang on which is called Fat Loss Habits. Sorry about that. I had to turn around and have a look, but it's right next to it on the bookcase. Everything Fat Loss by Ben Carpenter rounds it out as number 10.

Speaker 1: 22:32

I could go on and on with a number of good books, but those 10 are 10 books that I highly recommend every single person reads, and I mean every single person. You will understand your circadian rhythm. You will understand the importance of maintaining and lining up your circadian rhythm. The light doctor will help you to understand why you need to be very careful with your light. Diet around. That Breath teaches you how to breathe into stressful situations and not. We understand about sleep. We understand about our inner clock. And then Hugh Van Collenburg teaches us about the gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, and also about letting go of not being perfect all the time. And then we've got a couple of nutrition books that will actually just break things down and help you with them. Fantastic Top 10. Really good books that I would highly recommend. So there you have it Now. That's 10 books that have really helped to shape the way that I think, the way I coach and the way I live myself. That's improved me out of sight, considering the mental health challenges that I've had myself.

Speaker 1: 23:46

So, whether you're trying to sleep better, eat smarter or just understand your body a little bit more because the more you understand, the more you can actually help yourself with it these books, these 10 books, will make a difference. Now, if you've read any of these or you'd plan to, I'd absolutely love to hear your thoughts on that. So what you can do is you can actually go into the show notes and there's a spot there, a link that you can go into and you can message me. It's quite simple. Or you can leave, like a review, a rating as to the books and give us a comment on what you found, or if you found any of these titles highly beneficial, share this episode with your colleagues or even share it onto social media. If you got any of these titles highly beneficial, share this episode with your colleagues or even share it onto social media.

Speaker 1: 24:30

If you got anything out of it, and if you haven't already, make sure you hit follow on the platform that you're on and turn on your notifications so you never miss any episode. And hey, if you enjoyed the podcast and you've been really slack on this lately and I really beg you, we're almost at the end of this one a rating really helps. You've got no idea how much just leaving a rating or a review helps the podcast to get evidence-based information out there and those 10 books, those authors will love me forever for that, but they, honestly, they completely deserve it All right. So there you go. So I just want to say to you thank you so much for listening and remember there's no such thing as a perfect shift, but what you can do is you can literally make it a healthy one.

Speaker 1: 25:19

So share it with everybody, get the evidence-based information out there and don't forget, go and give us a rating and review, please. I'd really appreciate it. 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.