Introduction to A Healthy Shift

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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 rigors of shift work, but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's joke. More energy to do the things that they love. Well, doesn't that just got a nice ring to it? And it almost seems impossible for so many of us, doesn't it? Who the hell's got more energy to do the things they love outside of their shift work? All we seem to do is crawl from one to the next. Welcome back to a healthy shift. My name is Roger Sutherland. And today I just want to hit on a topic that's close to home for me. And it's also very close to home for you. Because you are a shift worker, and I know that you're probably someone who consumes alcohol. So for a long time, I actually thought that alcohol was helping me. And look hear me out. Don't turn it off. Hear me out. A few drinks after the shift would help you to switch off, quote unquote. And then fall asleep. Out on the gas with the crew because that's just what we did. You'd go out, who's going for a drink? Everyone goes for a drink. Date night, bottle of wine. Absolutely no question about it. And honestly, I honestly thought that you couldn't have fun without drinking. But here's the truth: alcohol wasn't actually helping me. It was literally destroying me. Now, I will be honest, I loved the ritual of it. Walking in the door after a long shift, cracking a beer, or pouring a glass of wine. It just felt like a release, a signal to my brain, the day is done. And socially, well, who goes out and has goes out and doesn't have a drink? It's just everywhere. I'd head out. The drink is the glue. The thing that made you fit in. It's the thing that kept you part of the crew. Date night with with Melissa. Wine, no worries. Open a bottle. We deserve this. And we would sit there and smash it. So I told myself, alcohol's just normal. It's harmless. It's part of being a shift worker. It's part of the job. It's life. But slowly things started to shift. And it isn't until you take a good look at yourself that you start to realize how much I was tired all the time, even after a big sleep. My weight was creeping up, even though I thought I was eating okay. And particularly around the middle. I just wasn't bouncing back the way I used

How Alcohol Affects Shift Workers

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to. And my mood, flat, irritable, literally just surviving. And here's the thing: I had I wasn't even clever enough to join the dots. I just blamed the shift work. I blamed food. I blamed stress, but I never ever blamed alcohol. It took me years to actually see the truth. And I will say this as a Melbourneite in Victoria, the world's most locked down city during COVID, alcohol became something that you just did to cope. And it created bigger issues because it became more and more and more. It was just from the second you walked in until the second you went to bed. That was literally what it was. It took me years to work this out. Even after COVID at those times, it still was a habit. And it takes hold of you without you even realizing alcohol is not a relaxant, it's actually a sedative, and that's a big difference. Yes, you will fall asleep faster, but that sleep is broken and it's also very shallow. You will miss out on that deep restorative stages that your body and your brain so desperately need, especially as a shift worker on shifts. And instead of waking up refreshed, you wake up groggy. You then push through with caffeine. And then at the end of your shift, you reach for alcohol again. And so the cycle repeats. Shift work is already brutal on your body, it's brutal on your sleep. Alcohol compounds this and makes it 10 times worse. So let's talk about health. Because the impact of alcohol on a shift worker's body goes way beyond sleep. Weight gain. Alcohol is energy dense, it is nutrient poor, they are empty calories. Add that to a regular eating from shift work, and it's a recipe for fat storage. Blood sugar disruption. Alcohol messes with glucose control. Combine that with eating at night when your body isn't prime for digestion. And you again increase your risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, and of course, fat gain. Your immune function. Shift work already weakens your immunity. Alcohol suppresses it even further, meaning you get sick more often and then you take longer to recover. Heart health. Long-term alcohol consumption raises blood pressure and it will damage your cardiovascular system. Hello, shift workers. You already have elevated blood pressure and a compromised cardiovascular system. Shift workers are already at a high risk of heart disease, and you are compounding that with alcohol. And then mental health, let's talk about that. Because alcohol is a depressant. It might numb the stress in the short term, but long term, it actually amplifies anxiety, it will lower your mood, and it will lead to burnout. So you take a group of people who are already under stress from irregular hours, broken sleep, and poor recovery, and then what do we do? We throw alcohol

Health Impacts Beyond Sleep

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on top. It's literally like pouring petrol on a fire. And yet, in shift work culture, drinking is normalized. In fact, it's actually expected, almost celebrated. And that is, in fact, the dangerous part of this. For me, the shift came when I finally realized that alcohol was a problem and it was not the solution. I suffered from severe mental health issues as a result of PTSD, depression, and anxiety. And alcohol was just a way of dealing with it. Until one day I went, I don't want to do this anymore. It's impacting on me greatly. And on New Year's Eve, 2023, going into New Year's Day on 2024, I committed to never drinking alcohol again. And that was 634 days ago, roughly. Okay, so it's exactly 634 days ago, as at the day I'm recording this, which is the 26th of September, 2025. I stopped drinking and I've never touched alcohol since. At first, it kind of felt awkward. What do you say when people say, Why aren't you drinking? How on earth do you socialize without it? How do you have fun? Well, that's when you realize that you actually have more fun because you don't need it. You drive to the function, you drive home from the function. The benefits hit me and instantly my sleep improved. Not perfect because shift work is never perfect, but far more deeper and much more restorative. My weight stabilized and I started losing. I wasn't fighting that constant bloat and the cravings. My mood lifted, my head was clearer, and I just literally felt more in control of my life. And

My Personal Journey to Sobriety

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most importantly, I had my energy back. So if you are a shift worker and you're listening to this right now, and alcohol is part of your routine, I want you to ask yourself this is it really helping you or is it quietly wrecking you like it did to me? Are you drinking to cope with the job? Or is the drinking making the job harder to cope with? Because here's the truth, and this is what you need to hear. Alcohol is nothing but a poison. It doesn't help you sleep, it doesn't fix stress, it certainly doesn't make you feel healthier, it sedates, it damages, and it takes a hell of a lot more off you than it gives. And I'll tell you this when you go out and you're with friends, there's such a power in saying, I don't drink. It's not a weakness, it's actually such a power move to say I don't drink. And true friends, true colleagues, they'll support you. They won't degrade you for it. Trust me, people will say, Oh my god, you're no fun, and then you just have fun and they don't notice. You don't need alcohol to have fun when you go out. Now I do drink zero beers, zero alcohol beers. I still stand there looking like I'm having a drink, and I'm not doing that to trick anyone. I actually just quite enjoy the taste of it. And you can find good zero alcohol beers to have. So I can just do that. Or you can just literally drink sparkling water, who cares? Because it's about you, it's not about them. And people just get used to it. They just know and they don't push you. Good friends don't push you. Shift work is hard enough. I beg you, don't add another layer of damage to it with alcohol. I'm not going to be that negative, Nancy, that reformed smoker, the reformed alcohol drinker. But if you're curious about what life could look like alcohol-free, even for a short time, give it a go. You might actually be really surprised at how much better you feel, how much easier

Life Without Alcohol: The Benefits

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your weight is to maintain, and how much clearer your head is. And if this resonated with you, remember, you don't have to figure this out all alone. That's why I built the Shift Workers Collective, because it's a community of people just like you navigating shift work with real evidence-based strategies that actually work. It's a private community, only shift workers in it, clients. I run weekly QA's, monthly webinars, all education around shift work, and everyone supports each other. And you can find a link to this in the show notes. So that's alcohol. And again, please don't think, oh, I don't need to hear this. Have a think about it. Wonder how your life would look without alcohol. I've got to tell you, it's such a power move to say I don't drink. It m it really is so good and it makes such a difference to your life. Thanks for tuning in. I'll catch you on the next episode. 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 ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.