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 show. And welcome back to another episode of a healthy shift podcast. My name's Roger Sutherland, and I'm your guide on this journey in shift work for you. My goal is to get you really thriving in your shift working life. Today's a very simple one. I want to start with a very simple question for you that I know that you will be able to answer right now. How are you breathing right now? This is a question that we're asking. Not later, not when things calm down, right now. Because most of the time we don't know, and this is a problem. Because breathing is automatic. So what we do is we ignore it until everything goes absolutely sideways. We have an argument, the fridge door, we stub our toe, a hard conversation at work, a tight deadline, a spike of stress. What about when the photocopy of stuff's up on you? That's when breathing matters most. Now, before you turn off and go, oh, this is all happy clapper, I want you to understand that this is what makes a great big difference to you. Because we've forgotten how to breathe. It's that simple. And we don't check in with ourselves. And if there's one strategy that I actually use with my clients, is I say to them at certain times during the day, check in with yourself and ask, how am I breathing? When something happens and it's highly stressful, say to yourself, How am I breathing? Now, this might seem really strange, but if you're breathing through your mouth, you're actually adding to stress. I need you to remember this, and this is a very important line that I learned when I did my breathwork facilitator course back in August of 2025. Your breath informs your body. It's not the other way around. Now we are going to expose ourselves to stress. We are all the time in our roles. If you're a nurse, you're exposed to alarms and lighting and patients and codes and things like that, and it stresses you. Police, paramedics, fireies, we're always exposed to stress. There's so much going on. The one thing that we don't do is we don't monitor how we're actually breathing to return our body into a nice calm state. This is one of the biggest problems. When you master this, you actually master life. You master so much. Because what you do is you actually put distance between the stimuli and your reaction to it. You actually get to choose your reaction. Now I want you to remember something, and you're gonna hate me for saying this. Do you remember your mum saying to you, take a breath? I know. How annoying was it? But she was right. Because it literally works. Because when you're watching someone getting worked up and you say to them, stop, close your mouth, take a breath, and you breathe in down into your stomach, and then you breathe out through purse lips. It literally works. You can feel yourself calm. And what you do is you actually put space between the stimuli and you're choosing your response. So let's talk about what stress actually does to you to start off with. Because when stress hits that stimuli, your nervous system shifts very quickly because your body perceives it as a threat. Your heart rate goes up, your breathing gets short and fast and into the chest, through your mouth, muscles tighten, your vision narrows. Now, this is not a mindset issue. This is actually physiology. This is what a sympathetic nervous side is in your autonomic nervous system. That's what it does. But at the same time, something important is happening in the brain. And this is the important part. The prefrontal cortex starts to go offline. Now, the prefrontal cortex in your brain is the part of your brain that handles reason, it handles perspective, it handles impulse control, it handles decision making, it rationalizes. So, in simple terms, the rational brain goes offline. And the older and the faster parts of the brain just start to take over. And this is why stress makes us dumb. This is when you say things that you wouldn't normally say. I want you to think about it. How many times have you been involved in an argument with your partner and you've said something, and then when you walk away, you think, what on earth did I say that for? Why would I say that? How dumb was that? And then you have to go back and apologize. Or I'll tell you what's actually happened physiologically. While you're in the heat of battle and you're stressed, the prefrontal cortex, that rational part of your brain, has actually gone offline. And what you're doing is you will then say things with that older part of your brain. And that's when things come out that you go, oh my god, and you can't take it back. You can literally see the words going out of your mouth and disappearing into the distance and hitting them like you've hit them with a wet fish. And you can't take that back. And you've said it and it's hurt. And then you walk away and you calm down and you think, what on earth did I say that for? Well, that's because your prefrontal cortex has just come back online. And the rational part of your brain is telling you you are a dick with what you've just said and what you've just done. These are things you not wouldn't normally say. But this is because you didn't take a second. So next time you're in an argument, I'll give you a hint. Next time you're in an argument with your partner and you can feel it rising up and you're looking at them, I want you to say to yourself, in your head, don't say that lad, how are you breathing? Say it in your head, how am I breathing? And then what I want you to do is I want you to stop, close your mouth, look at them. I want you to breathe deep and long in through your nose. And I want you to hold it for a second, and then I want you to breathe it out through your lips first. And then choose your response. It will change your life. I guarantee to you, it will change your life. And the same thing will happen when you find yourself standing in front of the pantry and opening the fridge, and then back to the pantry, then opening the fridge thinking that you're hungry. You end up eating things that you didn't plan to eat when you're stressed. You make dumb decisions when you're stressed. Stop, think, take a deep breath through your nose, in through your nose, four seconds, out through purse lips, eight seconds. Stop, think. Am I actually hungry? What am I doing here? Why am I here? It will change your life. Because when you're under stress, you react instead of actually responding. Because that's what your body's doing physiologically. It's taking your prefrontal cortex offline, it wants to fight or flight. So when you stop and breathe and just take that few seconds to ask yourself, how am I breathing? Look at your partner. Your partner's gonna be looking at you thinking, uh-oh, what's happen what's coming? And they're gonna be pleasantly surprised because you're actually gonna go, you know what? Can't be bothered now. And you'll make a different decision because you get to choose your response. Now, this is not because you lack discipline, it's because the system is designed, the system that is designed for thinking has actually been pushed aside and you're in reactive mode. So now let's look at some of those real life moments, the argument. You're not arguing the issue anymore. What you're doing is you're actually defending yourself. Your tone changes, your body tightens, your breathing becomes shallow. It's often through the mouth that keeps the stress response running. The more stressed you feel, the less access you have to logic. This is the same at work. This is why you find SWAT teams or special groups in the police going to do raids and that will practice box breathing to keep that prefrontal cortex, that rational part of their brain online. Because it's so important to make good decisions when you're under pressure. This is why arguments escalate and escalate fast because no one's thinking clearly. Everyone's just reacting. They're not choosing a response. The fridge. You're not hungry, but you're tired, or you're wired, or you're overwhelmed. Stresses nudge your brain towards that comfort and reward. It's a it's a just a mammalian response for you to go back and go, oh, tired, hungry, eat. It's short-term relief. It's a quick dopamine hit. Your breathing's shallow, your body is just totally restless. You open the fridge looking for some form of regulation, something that's colorful, something that's sweet, something that's going to get you going. You're not looking for food. And what we do is we then blame willpower, but that's just actually the wrong target. Now work pressure, deadlines, emails, noise, expectations, stress keeps stacking up. Your breathing speeds up without you even noticing that it has. Your nervous system is staying in high alert. Even off duty or when you're not at work, it's still on high alert. What has become your new normal? Have you noticed how antsy you are at home? How when you pick up your phone and you want me time and someone interrupts you, how short you are. I'm just doing something. Your nervous system is actually on high alert. Your prefrontal cortex is dimmed. You make poor decisions. You're missing details out of a conversation. You're snapping at the people that are closest to you or the people that matter. And you feel flat or overwhelmed. And again, this is not a character flaw. It's your nervous system under load. So, where does this breathing come into it? Rog, what are you talking about? I know everything that I've said up to there, you can relate to. Everything. You can relate to all of this because you have done all of it. And don't deny you haven't. I've just given you a physiological reason. Breathing is literally the fastest way that you have to influence your nervous system. It's faster than your thoughts, it's faster than logic, it's faster than motivation, especially when you breathe in through the nose. Because when you breathe in slowly through your nose, there's a number of things that happen. Your heart rate begins to slow, your blood pressure starts to drop, the vagus nerve gets stimulated. And this is a key nerve that communicates with the body and calms it. And the message that your brain receives is very simple. I'm safe. And when that message lands, that prefrontal cortex comes back online. Bang! All of a sudden you've got rational thinking back. It's not instantly, but enough. It's enough to pause. And what it is, more importantly, is it's enough to choose a response. So this is a real power in stopping and asking yourself, how am I breathing? Because that question alone creates a gap between the stimuli and your response. And I guarantee that if you try this, it will change everything. A pause between what just happened and what you do next, and that gap is everything. Because behavior literally lies in that space. So let's make this practical. Next time you're in an argument or you feel yourself under pressure or you're in an argument, stop. In your head, ask the question how am I breathing? Then I want you to take one slow breath in through your nose. Not forced, not dramatic, just slow. Let the air fill your belly all the way down, not into your chest, and then fill the ribs, and then fill your chest. But it's got to go to your belly first. Even if you put one hand on your navel and breathe down into there because it's tactile and you can breathe down into it. Then pause for a second. Just one second, pause, and then breathe out slowly. Now that single breath is not going to solve an argument. Don't get me wrong. I'm not stupid. But it does give your brain a chance to actually show up. And it turns that reaction into a response. Same thing at the fridge. Before you open the door, stop, ask yourself the question how am I breathing? Often that's enough to realize what it is that you actually need. Do I need rest? Do I need water? Do I need a break? Or do I just need a moment? Sometimes you might still eat, and that is perfectly okay. But what you've done is you've given yourself a choice. It's not an autopilot move. But what we do find is in research is asking yourself that question, doing that and taking that time can actually short circuit it. And more than half the time, you won't turn to the food. This is how we reduce our calorie intake. The same thing when you're under pressure at work. You don't need to go off into a room, sit quietly, and have a 10-minute breathing session. All you need is 10 seconds. Stop. Notice the breath. Slow it down through the nose. That short pause can actually bring clarity back online. It can literally stop that spiral. It can stop you banging out that email and hitting send. And this is why breath work works. You know what's even better about it? It's free. Your nose is right there on the front of your face. All you do is breathe through it. It's not because it relaxes you, but because it creates space. It creates space between the stimuli and the response. Stress removes that space. Breathing gives it back. And here's the part that most people miss you don't practice breathing when things are calm. You practice it when it's messy. Because that's when it matters. And that's when it changes outcomes. You've just got to think before you lose it, and before that prefrontal cortex goes offline, you've got to think, how am I breathing? So the takeaway for this one is very simple. Stress narrows you, breathing widens you. Stress shuts down your thinking brain, breathing brings it back. Your mum was right. Taking a breath doesn't mean you're weak, it means that you are smart enough to pause and choose your reaction. And that pause is literally where the better choices live. So today, I want you to start right here. A few times a day, I want you to ask yourself the question, how am I breathing? And if the answer is in fact shallow or tight, I want you to slow it down through the nose, one breath at a time, because that small habit can change arguments. It can change outcomes, it can change eating choices, it can change stress at work, not by force, but just by giving your brain the space that it needs to literally do its job. Thanks for listening. I'll catch you on the next one. 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.