The Drive Home Danger Zone

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Have you ever been driving home after night shift? The windows are down, the air conditioning's on, the radio is loud, and you're talking to yourself, you're hanging your head out the window, you're doing anything you can to stay awake. And then you finally pull into the driveway and you think, what is wrong with me? Now I've been there more times than I care to remember, and it's bloody dangerous. For years I thought that my body was actually letting me down, that somehow I just wasn't built for shift work. But here's what I've come to realize my body wasn't working against me at all, it was doing exactly what it was designed to do. And today I want to explain why that's one of the most important things that every shift worker can understand. It doesn't have to be this way. Whether you're a shift worker, trying to feel better, or a leader responsible for the people who keep your organisation running around the clock, you're in the right place. Welcome to a healthy

Why A Healthy Shift Exists

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shift. I'm Roger Sutherland, and after more than four decades of working 24-7 shifts with Victoria Police, followed by years of studying nutrition, circadian biology, human performance, and working with literally thousands of shift workers, I've made it my mission to change the conversation around shift work. Because healthier people create stronger teams and stronger teams build better organisations. And it all starts by understanding how to work with your biology and not against it. Let's get into today's episode.

The Myth Of Getting Used To It

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And welcome back to another episode of a healthy shift podcast. Now, last episode we spoke about one sentence that almost every shift worker has heard. You'll get used to it. I mean, how many times? Honestly, we hear it all the time. And I can guarantee anyone that's worked shift work that is listening to this has been has heard those words uttered to them. You'll get used to it. And I finished by saying that maybe we've been asking the wrong question. And today I actually want to build on that. Because for years I genuinely believed that my body was the problem. I remember driving home after night shift and thinking, come on, you can do it. Stay awake. You can get there. You know that feeling. Every red light just feels like it's red forever. Everyone gets longer and longer. Your eyes feel heavy. You're winding the windows down in the middle of winter. You're chewing gum, changing radio stations, anything to get home safely. Then you crawl into bed and you start blaming yourself. God, I'm hopeless. I should be tougher than this. How does Jenny do it? Why is Karen coping so well? Other people seem to cope. Does that sound familiar?

Your Brain Gets Mixed Signals

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Because here's an interesting thing. Imagine you had a two-year-old child. It's two o'clock in the morning and they're crying because they want to stay awake and play. Would you let them? Of course not. You do everything that you could to help them sleep. Why? Because you know that is what their body needs. Now here's the question. Why would your body be any different? Because it isn't. Your body doesn't suddenly decide, huh? I'm on night shift this week, so let's just switch everything around. It doesn't work like that. You can't just tell it. For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have been active during the daylight and they've been asleep at night. And this is the environment that your biology has evolved in. So when you're sitting in a brightly lit workplace at three o'clock in the morning, your body isn't being difficult. It's confused, it's receiving mixed signals. Because one part of your brain is saying, it's dark. We should be asleep. Because that's the signal it's getting. While your workplace is saying, stay alert. I need you to make decisions. I want you to solve problems. You've got to do this. And that is an enormous task. See the conflict? And think, this is where so many shift workers are too hard on themselves. We've somehow, and I don't know how, but somehow we've convinced ourselves that feeling tired at three o'clock in the morning is a weakness. It isn't. It's actually biology. In fact, I'd be more worried if you didn't feel tired. Because that would suggest that something else is going on. Feeling sleepy at night is a sign that your body is working exactly as it should. Now, that doesn't mean we throw our hands in the air and say, well, nothing can be done. It's actually quite the opposite. Because once you understand why your body behaves the way it does, you actually stop fighting it and you start working with it. And that's really what a healthy shift is all about. Not trying to beat biology, but educating you on how to work with your biology.

Circadian Misalignment And Common Symptoms

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When I coach people, one of the first things I say is, your body isn't broken. It's never usually the body. So many of the symptoms that you suffer from come from circadian misalignment. Even so many clients have come to me and they've said to me, Oh, I've got IBS, you know, I've got gastric reflux, I've got um all sorts of digestive problems, I get diarrhea, I get constipated, I'm highly stressed. Okay, let's work on that. And you'd be amazed at how much circadian alignment, light exposure, movement, and things like that fix these problems. Working with your biology. The reason why you've got these problems is because you're trying to force your body to do things against its natural biology, you're giving it the wrong signal. Your body is only responding to the signals it's getting, and you're giving it the wrong signal at the wrong time. And this is a completely different conversation because the signals matter. Maybe in your life there are signals that we can improve. Maybe there are things that we can do that actually help our body understand what we're asking of it. And that's where the science gets really exciting. Not because it gives us hacks, but because it gives us understanding. And understanding removes guilt. Now, I wish someone had explained this to me when I was 20. Instead of telling me to toughen up or telling me you'll get used to it, I wish someone had simply said to me, Rog, your body is literally just trying to protect you. Now, let me teach you how to support it. Because I honestly think that that conversation would have changed the way I work shifts for the next 40 years. It took me a long time to learn that. But I really started thriving once I understood this in the last five years. And you've got to remember, I had 35 years of damage up until that time. But it was amazing once I changed the signals how much better it was.

Understanding Removes Guilt

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So if our body responds to signals, what are they? And that is exactly what we're going to talk about in the next episode. Because there are four biological signals that have a massive influence on almost everything that we experience as a shift worker. Number one, sleep. Number two is daylight. Number three is movement,

Four Signals That Change Everything

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and then it's when we eat. It's not complicated. This is what I how I coach clients. You're getting this for free now. But it's incredibly powerful, and we'll unpack those next time.

Share This With A Shift Worker

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So can I ask you a favor, if I could please? Because this is a really exciting series. If today's episode made you feel a little bit less guilty about struggling with shift work, then I've actually achieved something. Because I don't want another shift worker thinking they're weak because they feel tired at three o'clock in the morning. You're human. And your biology is literally just trying to protect you. So I asked you this question, please. If you know someone who constantly blames themselves or really struggles with exhaustion after or through night shift, can you do me a favor and tell them about this series of the podcasts? Send them this episode because it might literally just change the way that they actually think about themselves. And knowledge is power. Understanding this, this is another way that I coach clients. I give them understanding, remove the guilt. So until next time, I really want you to remember you were not designed to work against your biology. You were actually designed to work with it. And it doesn't have to be this way. I'm Roger Sutherland, and I want to say thank you for joining me again.

Awareness That Changes Organisations

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If today's episode resonated with you, don't let the conversation stop here. Share it with a colleague, a manager, a friend, a leader, or someone who has the opportunity to improve the lives of people working in a 24-7 environment. Because real change starts with awareness. And awareness changes conversations, and conversations change organisations. And organizations change lives. So thank you for spending this time with me. And until next time, I want you to remember this it doesn't have to be this way. Take care of yourself and take care of each other.