What Sober Curious Really Means

Alcohol And The Body’s Biology

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 as we blast right on through 350 episodes. God, it's a lot, isn't it? A lot of information out there that I have put out around um around shift work and shift work topics and my own experience and things like that. And it's all here to help you, the shift worker. Today's episode's an interesting one. It's going to be nothing like what you think. So be curious. All right. So before we start, I'm not that person that's going to tell you to give up alcohol. Yes, I've given up alcohol. And let's put that disclaimer on here to start off with. I stopped drinking alcohol about two and a half years ago. It was actually a New Year's resolution that I would give up alcohol and I haven't gone back since. And I have zero regrets. I absolutely love my life alcohol-free, and it is such a power trip for me to say, nope, don't drink. And you know, when you've got good friends and close friends in your life and you say that you don't drink, um, they're so supportive of you and they're actually sober curious. And that's what the topic is about today. So I'm not here to take your drink off you. What I want to do is I actually I'm here today to get you thinking about it, right? Not just to think about alcohol. Because most shift workers don't actually question their alcohol use. It just becomes part of our routine, doesn't it? Finish a run of nights. What are we going to do? Let's all go for a drink. Bad shift. We need to catch up. Let's have a drink. I need to switch off. Yep, have a drink. So today's about one idea and it's about being sober curious. Now, what does that mean? What it means is you get curious about why you're drinking and how much you're drinking and what it's actually doing to you. It's not about quitting forever, it's just about questioning the habit. It's a psychological game I'm going to play with you here. Let me be very clear with you. All right. It's about getting you to question a lot around it. Very important. So, what is sober curious? What is it? Now, sober curious isn't a label, it's actually a mindset. Now, you don't have to be all in or all out, and you don't have to call yourself sober. You just need to stop running on autopilot and ask yourself some simple questions. Why do I feel like this? Is this helping me or is it just numbing something? What would happen if I didn't have a drink tonight? Now, most people don't ask those questions, especially shift workers, especially first responders and military because alcohol has become a tool. It's a tool for us to wind down, it's a tool for us to fall asleep, and it's a tool for us to disconnect from the stress. But here's the problem you actually think it's helping, but biologically, it's actually doing the opposite. Now we cannot beat biology, and let's be clear on that. This is where people get it so horribly wrong. They think they figured out how to quote unquote use alcohol properly, but they can manage it. But you see, you can't outsmart biology. Alcohol works the same way in every human body, shift worker or not, and when you understand what it actually does, you start to see why it's costing you a lot more than what you think. So, what is the biological impact? Let's break it down simply. Brain and cognition. Alcohol is a neurotoxin. Even low levels of drinking are linked to reduced brain volume. That's a fact, and that means actual structural changes. Let's repeat that. Reduced brain volume, structural changes just from drinking alcohol. It also disrupts the balance between GABA and glutamate. Now that is calming your stimulating systems, right? So yeah, you feel relaxed at first, but then later you actually get the rebound from it. That wire, that anxious feeling. That's what people call uh anxiety. So for shift workers already dealing with fatigue and circadian disruption, this actually hits you a lot harder. And your brain never fully recovers. Let's be clear. Sleep. This is a big one. Let's be clear on this too. Alcohol does not give you real sleep. What it does is it sedates you. You fall asleep faster, but your sleep quality drops. REM sleep gets suppressed. You wake up more through the night. Am I right? And your nervous system actually stays more active. For those of you that track your heart rate, check out your heart rate in the morning after a day on the gas or a night on the gas. And have a look at the difference and how elevated your heart rate is. Tell me that that isn't having an impact. So you wake up feeling flat, even if you were out for seven to eight hours. Now, if you're a shift worker trying to recover between shifts, this is a massive problem for you. You're already fighting biology, and alcohol has just contributed to that and made that fight even harder. Metabolism and your energy. Let's be clear on this. Your body prioritizes alcohol and treats it as a toxin. So the moment it is in your system, your liver stops everything else and it focuses hard on clearing that toxin out of your system. Fat burning stops. Blood sugar regulation gets disrupted, which means that sugar is floating around your system. And where does that go? Of course, it gets parked as body fat. This is why you see more fat going, especially around the abdomen. Hello? And more energy crashes. For shift workers, that unsustainable energy shows up mid shift. Now, ladies, as you hit your 40s, late 40s, 50s, don't complain about putting weight on Rand your abdomen, your mum tum, uh, because my hormones are broken while you're having two or three glasses of wine at night. I've just explained to you what the process is. That is what it is. Give up the alcohol, watch what happens. Makes such a big difference to you. Because already, as perimenopausal or menopausal, that shift in your biology is moving that fat towards your stomach anyway. And obviously the tuck shop arms at the same time. You're feeling that. And you're adding alcohol to that, which is causing all sorts of problems. And the biggest problem that you've got there is that fat around your abdomen, that visceral fat which is internal and around your organs, is a death notification. You've got to be very careful of that visceral fat. I don't want to terrify you or scare you, but don't say to me, oh, I can't lose weight while you're drinking wine. Even though you might reduce your alcohol, you reduce your calories. It doesn't work that way. I know a lot of people will say, yes, you can still drink alcohol and lose weight. Yeah, you can. But geez, you're making it a lot harder because alcohol in your system is actually slowing down your liver, it's slowing down your glucose metabolism, and it stops fat burning because your body is focused on getting rid of that toxin out of the system. And not to mention the fact that while you're drinking alcohol, how many of those nibbles are you having? How many bites and leaks and sips and things like that? How many times do you find yourself in the fridge or in the pantry because you're having a drink? We lose all rhyme and reason at that time. Alcohol impacts us on that. We relax. That's the idea. But what it does is it causes us more problems. So let's talk about what the impact that it has on mental health because alcohol changes your brain chemistry as well. Short term, it actually feels like relief, and it does. I know I've been there. Have a drink, numbs everything. You feel good. Long term, it increases your anxiety and low mood. That's that simple. Because you're constantly pushing your brain out of balance, and then you're asking it to recover. Over time, your baseline shifts. You need more to get the same effect, and then you feel worse without it. And here's another one that we've got to be really clear on, and that's the cancer risk. This one gets ignored all the time. When we walk into the bottle shop and we see all those beautiful, bright-colored bottles and everything looks fantastic. It's cancer in a bottle. Alcohol is classified as a group one carcinogen. That is the same category as smoking. And here's the part that most people don't realize a large percentage of alcohol-related cancers come from light to moderate drinking, not heavy drinking, that few drinks of weak pattern still carries risk. Even one drink is carrying a risk. And you need to understand that is important. Aging and recovery. Be clear on this. Have a look at everyone a ranch that's drinking. They're all going and getting Botox, they're all going and getting um facials and things like that while they're having drinks. Alcohol speeds up your biological aging. It shortens telomeres. And that's a marker of how fast your cells age. It also suppresses your immune system for up to 24 hours. So your recovery is slower. You're more vulnerable to getting sick. And if you're training or you're trying to stay fit, your actual progress is blunted. Be clear on that. Gut health. Alcohol damages the gut lining, it kills all of that wonderful, beneficial bacteria that's in your gut that is serving so many more purposes in your body. It increases permeability. And that means more inflammation across your entire body. Inflammation, not good. And this links back to fatigue, mood, and your overall health. Now that I've laid all that out, let's bring this back to shift work. Let's stack that on top of shift work. I know. The start I was just talking about the nine to fivers. But let's just stack it on top of shift work because you're already dealing with disrupted sleep, circadian misalignment, higher stress, and a regular reading pattern. Alcohol doesn't fix any of that. What it does is it actually compounds it, it makes you sleep worse. Your recovery is slower, your mood is far less stable, and your energy is more unpredictable. And not to mention your immune system and your mental health and everything else that goes with it. And over time, this literally is chipping away at your health. But because it's normalized, you just don't question it. So what's the real question here? This is where sober curious matters. Not should I quit forever? That's not the question. And I don't want you to ask yourself that question. I think I'll give up alcohol. Should I quit? The real question is why do I feel like I need it? Is it stress? Is it a habit? Is it the only way that I know how to switch off? And if that's the case, that is the problem that you need to solve. Not just covering it in alcohol. Because if your only recovery tool is having a drink, you've got a problem. And you are limiting yourself. So here's what you need to do. Don't quit forever. And certainly don't label yourself. What I'm asking you today is just get curious. Pick a few days a week and don't drink. See what happens. Look at your sleep. Look at your energy. Check out your mood. Check out your recovery between shifts. And ask yourself this honest question: where can I actually reduce this? Where is alcohol costing me more than it's actually giving me? Because once you see that clearly, you don't need willpower. What you need is just some mindful practice and to make better decisions. If this episode hit home for you and you know someone who needs to hear it, share it with another shift worker. And I want you to follow along for more straight, evidence-based ways to improve your health on shift. Thanks for listening. 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.