Welcome And Quick Thanks

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. You are so welcome. I really want to say thank you to each and every one of you for listening to this podcast. I do appreciate you. It's one of my favorite platforms. And all I ask in return is that you just give the show a rating, or if you're able to on Apple, give it a review. It's a very simple process. But today, let's get straight into the episode. It's an interesting one. I just want to ask you a question. What are you accepting as your new normal? Now, this is an interesting one. I want you to just sit with this for a minute and just have a think about it because this doesn't happen all at once. It actually happens slowly and it happens very quietly. And before you know it, things that should feel off actually start to feel normal. Think about that. I'm talking about physical health, I'm talking about mental health, I'm talking about all sorts of things here. So have a think about it. While you are walking along or driving there, when this podcast finishes, I want to give you plenty to think about here. Right. You didn't always feel this tired, but now you wake up feeling exhausted and you're dragging yourself through shifts and you're relying on caffeine just to function. And somewhere along the way, you stop questioning that. You just said, oh, this is shift work. You didn't always carry that extra weight, but now your clothes are tighter, your energy is lower, you don't move like you used to. And again, you tell yourself, uh, it's just part of getting older, it's just the job. You didn't always feel like you had no time. Now it's work, sleep, recover, repeat. There's no training, there's no structure, you've got no real downtime, no time for yourself, and you start saying, that's just how life is now. How many times? But here's the problem the more you accept something as normal, the less likely you are to actually change it. And let's be honest, this isn't all about your health. Have a look around. Crime is rampant worldwide, it's up and out of control in majority of places. But we just accept it as our new normal and we're just adjusting. What we're doing is we're just saying, oh yeah, that'd be right. But it's not. We have a crisis in the Middle East. Petrol prices spike straight away, and we all freak out. And then they drop a little bit and we go, oh, well done. Thanks for giving that back. Look, prices, petrol prices have come back down. And we accept that as the new baseline. But it's it's so much more expensive, particularly here in Victoria, where it's like over a dollar more a liter expensive. Our standards are shifting and slowly, and we stop pushing back, we just start to accept it. And this becomes our new normal, but your health. That's the one you feel every single day. And shift work is slowly taking this away from you if you let it. It will take your sleep, it will take your energy, it'll take your metabolism, it'll take any consistency that you have in life, and it's not because you're weak, and it's not because you lack discipline, it's just because that environment is literally stacked against you. But here's a part that a lot of you get wrong. They think that the goal is just to cope with shift work, but it's not, and I'm here to tell you it's not because coping is literally just another word for accepting a decline. Now, the goal here is to stay in control, to recognize when something in your life is drifting and refuse to call it normal. I want you to think. How much of your training and exercise has dropped away? And then you think I haven't got any time. Feeling tired after a run of nights, that's expected. But feeling tired all the time, that's a red flag. That's not how it should actually be. Putting on a bit of weight during a tough block, fine. Watching it climb year after year, though, that's not normal. Living out of routine during chaos weeks, this actually happens through short periods of time. But rolling through life with no structure at all, this is where things really start to fall apart. And when are you actually going to draw a line? Because if you don't define what is acceptable, shift work is actually going to do it for you. And it's subtle. And it won't hit you in one big moment. It will literally slowly chip away. A little bit less sleep here, a little bit more takeaway here, an Uber there, a few missed sessions, a few extra kilos, and then one day you look up and think, how on earth did I get here? If this lands with you, let's do something about it. Because I've seen this hundreds of times. Good people, hard workers. You are a good person. You're a shift worker, you are doing amazing things, sacrificing your own health for the health of others, and you work hard, you don't lack effort. What you've done is you've just slowly lowered the standard of what you are willing to accept. And I know because I have literally been in that position myself, it chips away until one day you think, oh my god, what on earth happened? And I can literally remember one of those moments myself. I was working at the police headquarters and I walked out of a door into someone who I hadn't seen for many years. And they said to me, Oh my God, what happened to skinny little Rodge? And I nearly died. And it went in deep. And you see the impact that commenting on someone's weight or how they are? Can you see the impact that that has? But you don't realize because you just gradually go up in sizing, you gradually accept how tired you are, you just gradually accept the aches, the pains, that you've got no time for anything, until all of a sudden something like that happens and you go, Oh my God, I need to do something about this. Because once something becomes your new normal, and it is normal, remember, you're accepting it as your new normal, it actually becomes very hard to challenge because now it just becomes familiar. Because going either way now actually feels worse. But familiar doesn't mean optimal, and it definitely doesn't mean permanent. Now you can take control back, but it actually starts with awareness. You need to sit in silence with yourself and you need to ask yourself this question, and you need to ask it honestly. What have I started accepting that I really shouldn't be? Is it poor sleep? Is it my weight gain? Is it my energy? Is it the fact that you feel like you've got absolutely no control over your own routine? Because once you step out and you look in and you can start to see it clearly, then you can actually start to change it. Now, not all at once, but with the right structure and the right systems and the right approach for shift work, you can actually get back on top. So if you are sitting there thinking, yeah, God, this really has crept up on me. Now that you mention it, when I think about it, what I'm now from where I've come from, even just this time last year, think where you were to where you are now. Now go back two years. Now go back five years. Yeah, you're getting older, you're five years older. I totally understand that. But I feel better now than I did five years ago. I feel better now than I did 10 years ago. I actually feel better now than I did 15 years ago because I'm starting to take priority over my own health and well-being. Where to start? This is where I come in. Because I work with shift workers on exactly this from Lyft's experience myself. I know where to start because I know exactly what it is that matters. I know for you actually where it started to go wrong, and I can correct that. If you don't believe me, try me because I know where it started to go wrong. I know what actually matters, and I also know literally how to build something that works in a real world, not on paper, not because I'm a researcher, but because I'm someone who reads the research, reads the science, understands what is required, and I also know how to apply that in a real life living shift work situation. So if you want help to get back in control of your health, there is a link in the show notes. Because I literally beg you to have a think. We get caught up in life and we're busy looking at everybody else on social media, all off having a great time and living their life and doing what they're doing. But what I'd really love you to do is to stop and think about where you're at today compared to where you were at 12 months ago. And now compare that to where you were at two years ago and five years ago, as I said earlier. Now, if you're one of those people who took control five years ago and you look at where you're at today, then hallelujah to you and well done. Because I know that's how I feel. I feel fantastic. Now, the thing is, everything starts to spiral out of control and you're not sure where to start. And I can actually catch you, and I can help you with this. I know you don't believe that I can, but I can. I've done it with hundreds of people before you. And I can do it with you, and it's a very, very simple process because I know, as I said, I know where it's gone wrong. So please, I beg you, don't let a slow decline become your standard because it is eating away at you. What I really want you to do is to decide what you want your normal to look like, and then start moving towards that. But do it simply, with just little things. And I want to say thanks very much for joining this one. Have a think about this quietly, it's short and sweet, and 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.