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. Where do I get my knowledge from? How do I learn? What is it that makes me tick, and what is it that fascinates me to help me to help you? And today I'm going to go into six books that I highly recommend that every single one of you read. Put your fantasy novels down for a sec. Put your other books away and just pick up these one at a time and go through them. Some of them I highly recommend that you listen to, and I'll talk about those when I get to it. And the other ones, have a read because you'll want to be highlighting, sticky noting, and doing all sorts of stuff with them because they're really important. There's no ranking and no favorites with these, and every single one of them. I mean, I've got anyone that's watched me on social media and sees me talking sees I've got a bookcase behind me that has literally hundreds of books in it. But these are my absolute favorites. These are my absolute go-to's. All right. And I haven't even mentioned atomic habits in this one because I had to cut one or two. And these ones here I have found to be super important for you, the shift worker, to help you so that you can understand things better. Now, I'm gonna tell you something. I'm no rocket scientist, all right? Now I'm not the most intelligent. I did 40 years as a cop. Okay, so I was reactive. Radio said, go and do, deal with, and that's it. So I'm not what you would call a scientific-minded person. But what I am doing is I'm learning all the time, and these books are consolidating that information. But I do find that these were all just so easy to read. Because, well, the reason why I'm recommending them is because I could understand them. I'm not a massive reader, but I was able to understand these and I was able to read them and understand them and comprehend them. And I highly recommend that you have a crack at them as well. And I'll go through these individually. Now, if you work shifts or if you are literally just trying to function better as a human, these books will matter. The last book is if you're a female, I really want you to read this. If you're the last if the last book, let me get to it. It is an imperative book because a lot of people come to me as middle-aged females shift working, really suffering with perimenopause and menopause. And I want to go through this book and explain to you the book. So get to the end and listen to book number six because it's important. All right, no order, but this is important. Book number one, is butter a cub? I know you can answer this, but this is by Rosie Saunt and Helen West, this book. It's called Is Butter a Cub? And there's a reason why this title's been chosen. This book cuts through nutrition nonsense, right? Now, it is looking at so many different diets and diet culture. It looks at food myths and the constant stream of online wellness advice, quote, unquote, and it dismantles every single one of them calmly and logically. It's so beautifully written. The key message is simple, and my book is literally absolutely covered in sticky notes and highlighted text because it is just so good. Most nutrition confusion comes to you from extremes. You're looking for that magic, and it comes from an extreme, demonizing a particular food. Even today, I was in a shop and I said I wanted to lose a couple of kilos, and the bloke said to me, Oh, you've got to do keto. I don't have to do keto. Keto's actually just cutting a food group out. All you're doing is cutting carbs. That's all you're doing. And even then, you feel like shit. And the reason why you feel like shit is because you've got no glucose running through your system. Demonizing foods, idolizing other foods, and ignoring the context of everything. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbs are not evil, and detox teas are not a detox. Now, for shift workers, this actually matters. Because when you're tired, you're vulnerable to quick fix thinking. You want energy, you want fat loss, and you also want control. And this book will bring you back to the absolute basics and help you to stick to it. Energy balance drives fat loss, food quality actually matters, and consistency beats gimmicks. It's rational, it's all evidence-based, and it's practical. It's light blue and yellow. It's written by Rosie Saunt and Helen West, and it's called Is Butter a Carb. It is a fantastic book. I highly recommend you get a copy of that, get your highlighting texture out and your sticky notes, you'll have a ball with it. It's really good. Book number two is probably one of my favorite books of all time. It's called Lifetime, and it's written by Professor Russell Foster. I didn't read this book, I listened to it. And I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you, listening to this book by Russell Foster is like listening to your grandfather read you a story. I absolutely loved this book, and I love listening to him telling the story in his own voice, and he is amazing. Now it's the new science of the body clock and how it can revolutionize your sleep and your health. If you want to understand circadian biology, this is the book. Even if you don't want to understand circadian biology, I really do recommend that you learn to understand circadian biology because of the impact that it actually has in your life every single minute of every single day. Now, Russell Foster explains how deeply time is actually wired into us as a human. Because every organ is running on a clock. Every single one of them, every cell has its own timekeeper in it. And every cell literally anticipates light and dark. And when we override that system, we pay for it. As a shift worker, understanding this makes a huge difference. Russell connects circadian disruption to metabolic disease, mood disorders, immune dysfunctions, and sadly, he even connects it to the cancer risk. Now, for shift workers, this is not theoretical. This is actually your daily life. Light at night, eating at the wrong biological time, sleeping against your clock. Well, this book gives you the science behind why that feels so hard. And once you understand the clock, you actually start stop blaming yourself. So the book is Lifetime. It's by Russell Foster. And I'm going to go ahead and recommend that you get that one on Audible and you have a listen. It is fantastic. And the way he speaks, it's beautiful. It's just, as I said, it's just like your grandfather reading you a story, and it's just wonderful. Book number three is my probably second favorite, I would think, because of the value that it brings. It actually consolidates lifetime. The book is called The Inner Clock, and it's by Lynn Peebles. It's called Living in Sync with Our Circan Rhythms. Now, this book actually tells the story of circadian silence, but science, but again, it's written in layman's terms. It's written for you to understand. You've got to remember, with these books that I talk about, scientists already understand all this. They already know this. So I choose these authors and tell you about these books because it's written for you to understand as a layman. This explores how researchers uncovered the molecular clock and how genes switch on and off based on the time of the day and how light is actually the dominant signal shaping our modern life. Hello, we've heard this a million times. It also shows how society ignores our biological timing, late night screens, 24-hour work cycles, food available all the time. And for anyone working in emergency services or healthcare, this book will validate exactly how you are feeling. You're not weak. What you are doing is you're working against your biology. And so understanding that changes how you will approach your sleep, your meals, and your recovery. The book is called The Inner Clock. It's written by Lynn Peebles. I listened to this one as well. Fabulous book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is really, really good. Another one. The next one is a really important book as well. The Light Doctor by Martin Moore Eid. I'm going to say that this book here is actually terrifying to read. It's almost a horror story. But again, light and artificial light at night is well known by circadian researchers and the exposure and the impacts that that has on us. Scientists know this. Everyone knows it in the researching field. But the book that's been written by Martin Moore Eid here, and I've had Martin on the podcast twice, and it's been a great listen. If you haven't listened to them, go and look for the episodes with Dr. Martin Moore Eid. The book focuses on light, and that light is the most powerful circadian signal that we have. Our whole body functions on it. But how does it? And this is what the book explains. Dr. Martin Moore Eid explains how artificial light at night suppresses our melatonin. It actually shifts the rhythms and it alters our metabolism. And this is why we as shift workers really suffer. He was one of the very, very early voices pushing back against this blue-enriched lighting at night. These low voltage LEDs that we have in our house now. Ask Dr. Martin Maureed about those. Read them in the book. You will be horrified at what they are actually doing to our health. For shift workers, this is huge. Because you can't manage sleep if you ignore light. And you cannot fix fatigue if you are blasting your eyes with bright light at 2 a.m. and then expect instant sleep at 8 a.m. This book reinforces one thing. One thing and one thing alone. Control your light, or it is going to control you. The book is called The Light Doctor. It's by Dr. Martin Moore Eid. Book 5 written by one of my favourite people, Dr. Olivia Walsh from Archiscope. Dr. Walsh wrote the book Sleep Groove. And it is just so beautifully written. Why your body's clock is so messed up and what you can do about it. Olivia and I are friends in the background, and I make no secret of that. But this book and listening to the author that actually read this book actually sounds like Olivia. It's incredible. It's not her. Olivia didn't narrate this herself, but listening to it, it sounds like her. So if you want to know what Olivia sounds like, listen to the book because that's what she sounds like. Olivia's got the most beautiful way of articulating things and putting things. And this book literally changed things for me around the thinking based on her own research around this. The book challenges the idea that there is a perfect sleep schedule. Dr. Walsh explains that people sit along a spectrum, different chronotypes. We have early larks, we have night owls, different sleep timing preferences. And instead of forcing yourself into a rigid pattern, what we should be doing is working with our groove. And for shift workers, this is important. If you're a late owl, why would you be working a run of day shifts? No wonder you're struggling. And if you're a morning lark, working an afternoon shift will wipe you out. Now, some tolerate nights better than others, and some adapt quite quickly, but some never adapt. What this book does is it encourages flexibility, experimentation, and tracking patterns instead of chasing perfection. Sleep is not about rules, it's actually about alignment. And one thing that I did learn from Dr. Walsh, which is really important, and that is it's not about the length of sleep. It actually puts to bed this rule of seven to nine hours sleep, which is fantastic for our nine to fiver to get that seven to nine hours sleep. But how do we go about it as a shift worker? And Dr. Walsh talks all about a anchoring and getting up at a particular time each day. And those of you that follow me know how adamant I am about getting up at a particular time each day and anchoring that circadian rhythm. Regardless of the time you went to bed, you gotta anchor it. And we don't sleep in to catch up on sleep. You can't do it. Guess where I got that from as well. So there you go. That's book number five. That is called Sleep Groove, and it's by Dr. Olivia Walsh, PhD. A good friend. Shout out to Olivia. It's a fantastic book. It's got some beautiful illustrations in it, done by her pen as well. Fabulous. Highly recommended. Okay, book number six. Ladies, listen up, get your pen and paper ready. This is a really important book for you. Really important book for you. And it's called The Hormone Repair Manual, and it's by Lara Bryden. Every woman's guide to healthy hormones after 40. Hello, ladies. One thing that I've I've noticed, and one thing that's really important is our shift working community, our females, once they start hitting perimenopause and menopause, they really, really suffer. Really suffer. A lot more than our nine to five colleagues. Shift work is brutal for females because of that infradian rhythm and the hormonal imbalances that we get. Understanding those is really, really important. And the hormone repair manual, every woman's guide to healthy hormones after 40 is a great book. Navigate and relieve symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. If you're a woman around 40, read it. Perimenopause is not a sudden event, it's actually a transition. And Lara explains what actually changes. Progesterone declines first, cycles shorten, sleep becomes fragile, anxiety increases, and weight distribution shifts. And for female shift workers, this is amplified. Circadian disruption plus hormonal transition is a double load. And this book will help females to understand what is normal, what is modifiable, and where lifestyle, light, stress, and nutrition fit in. And it gives a language to symptoms that many women have been dismissed for. Lara Bryden. If you don't follow her on Instagram, ladies, I would highly recommend that you go over and you follow Lara Bryden as well. Really important. And get hold of this book. It's a mustard colored book. It's got a blue circle on the front. It's called the Hormone Repair Manual and it's Lara Bryden. Fantastic book. Highly recommended. Again, a super easy read and will give you so much insight into information that would be really, really useful for you. Okay, now these six books all point to the same truth. Every single one of them. Every single one of those books. And that is that your body runs on rhythms. Light matters. We can lie in bed looking at our mobile phones and scrolling at night or scrolling, but it's having an impact. Because light matters. Sleep matters more than you give it credit for. Food timing matters more than you give it credit for. And those hormones can be balanced through balancing all of that above. Rhythms, light matters, sleep matters, food timing matters. And none of this is about hacks. None of it's about nootropics, none of it's about any of those catch cries or words. It's all about understanding your own human biology. Because when you understand it, you actually stop fighting with yourself. So if you are serious about functioning well in shift work, start reading those books. Pick one, take notes, and apply one principle at a time. Don't try and do it all at once because it won't last. Just pick one and work through it. But read them all, they will all give you a fantastic picture. Because that's how real change happens. It doesn't happen with motivation. You've got to take steps with understanding, and these books will give you that. I'll see 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.