A Healthy Shift | The Shift Work Podcast
It doesn't have to be this way.
Welcome to A Healthy Shift | The Shift Work Podcast, the podcast helping shift workers thrive while changing how organisations think about people working in 24/7 environments.
Hosted by Roger Sutherland, Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist, this is where evidence meets lived experience.
After more than 40 years of working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, followed by years studying nutrition, circadian biology, chrononutrition, sleep, human performance and women's health, Roger is on a mission to challenge the belief that fatigue, poor sleep, burnout and declining health are simply part of working shifts.
Because they don't have to be.
Whether you're a nurse, paramedic, police officer, firefighter, doctor, aged care worker, manufacturing employee, FIFO worker, miner, pilot, flight attendant, truck driver, dispatcher, or anyone working outside the traditional 9-to-5, this podcast will give you practical, evidence-based strategies to help you sleep better, improve your energy, optimise your health and perform at your best.
If you're a leader, manager, People & Culture professional, WHS specialist, or responsible for leading a 24/7 workforce, you'll discover a different way of thinking about shift work—one that focuses on building shift work capability from within through education, leadership and practical systems that create healthier people, stronger teams and higher-performing organisations.
Each episode explores topics including:
• Shift work
• Night shift
• Sleep after night shift
• Circadian rhythm
• Fatigue management
• Shift worker health
• Nutrition for shift workers
• Chrononutrition
• Recovery and resilience
• Women's health and shift work
• Leadership in 24/7 organisations
• Human performance
• Workplace wellbeing
• Fatigue risk management
• Building healthier, safer and higher-performing workplaces
This isn't another podcast offering generic health tips.
It's a podcast about changing the future of shift work.
Because healthier people create stronger teams.
Stronger teams build better organisations.
And it all starts by understanding how to work with biology, not against it.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Episodes
423 episodes
[48] - The impact of caffeine on sleep
Do you really struggle with sleep?Do you fully understand the impact of caffeine on sleep?Do you not know how to overcome this? I discuss👉 What foods do we find caffeine in?👉🏻 What is...
[47] - Fiona Fuller - Long term client
I'm thrilled for you to hear from my long-term client Fiona.Fiona came to me almost beaten by shift work.A PCOS sufferer where shift work had an even bigger impact.Hear all about what led Fiona to me and about our journe...
[46] - How can we best support our immune system?
Do you feel like you are always sick?Do you know how to support your immune system?Are these herbs and vitamins you see in the pharmacies any good? In this episode I discuss👉 Can you boost your immu...
[45] - Let's talk about Supplements
Have you ever wondered if you need supplements?Did you know that 99% of them are a waste of money?Do you know why?I discuss👉 3 Common Supplements that people take that do absolutely nothing.👉🏻 I ...
[44] - The biological implications of eating over night
Are you really struggle with fat gain on shift work?Do you understand why this is happening?Would you like to learn how to navigate this?In this episode I discuss👉 How limited the research con...
[43] - Tom Coleman - How can we get more sleep?
Do you really struggle with sleep?Do you understand what it is that causes problems with sleep?Do you know how to get proper sleep?Thrilled to have specialist sleep coach Tom Coleman on this episode talking about ev...
[42] - The shift workers curse, brain fog
Do you really struggle with brain fog on shift work?Do you know why this happens?Do you know how to avoid it?In this episode I discuss👉 The Circadian Rhythm👉🏻 Social Jetlag and it's impact👉🏼...
[41] - I've woken up in the middle of the night, now what?
Do you really struggle with waking up in the middle of the night?As a shift worker do you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night after a run of night shifts?Do you not know how to put yourself back to sleep?&...
[40] - Ladies, How well do you know your menstrual cycle?
Do you really understand your menstrual cycle?Do you know what impacts shift work can have on your monthly cycle?I discuss👉 What is the Infradian Rhythm?👉🏻 What systems in the body does the Infrad...
[39] - Kate Morris - The benefits of having a coach
Thrilled to have my friend Kate Morris PT on this episode.Kate is passionate about helping people to "live their best life" and shows everyone how to go about it.The best way to do this is to have a coach to show you the way in ...
[38] - All or nothing will always end up nothing
Do you really struggle with where to start?Did you know it's never the habit that failed it was the processes you put in place to achieve that habit?Did you realise that all or nothing just ends up nothing because...
[37] - My top 5 strategies to best cope with night shift
Do you really struggle with night shift?Could you be self-sabotaging, without realising, by your own behaviours around night shiftIn this episode, I give you 5 strategies to best cop with night shiftI discuss
[36] - When we eat it, how do we burn it off?
Do you know how we burn the calories we've eaten?Do you freak out when you can't get to the gym for fear of gaining body fat?Then this episode is for youI discuss👉 Energy balance👉🏻 How does ...
[35] - Laura Fiske/Grace Cowan - From totally broken to thriving, in only 5 months
Is shiftwork sucking the absolute life out of you?Are you literally just crawling from one shift to the next but love your job.Can you not find a way to literally just live between shifts?In this episode, you will hear how...
[34] - What's all the buzz around meditation?
Do you really struggle with Meditation?Do you understand the importance of meditationDo you not know how to meditate?I discuss👉 My journey into meditation👉🏻 Wh...
[33] - Why am I so bloated?
Do you really struggle with bloatingDo you understand what may be causing this?In this episode, I address what can be causing your gas and bloating and strategies to help you to avoid it.I discuss👉 What ...
[32] - Meal Timing
Do you really struggle with when to eat?Do you understand the importance of meal timing to your biological health?In this episode, I talk about the developments in research around chrononutrition (the evolving science in the relat...
[31] - Ali Flynn - Living with a Shift worker (strategies to keep that home fire burning)
As a shift worker, you may be very difficult to live with.Have you ever given that any thought?Do you just go through the motions daily to just survive?How on earth do you keep the home fire burning while one or even both of...
[30] - What are the hidden dangers of performing shift work?
How much do you understand the impacts of shiftwork?Shift work has many impacts on our health and wellbeingThe majority of the health impacts are caused by us self-sabotaging through lack of education.In this episode, I ta...
[29] - Tips to improve your sleep
Do you really struggle with sleep?Not only as shift workers but for everyone, sleep is always a problem but there are ways to create an environment to help us not only get better quality sleep but better quantity too.In th...
[28] - Blue Light and its impact on sleep
Do you really suffer from lack of sleepCould blue light exposure be impacting on that?Are you confused about blue light?Do you understand how blue light can actually be beneficial as well as detrimental? In this episode...
[27] - Shannon Beer - Negative Body Image, Self Esteem and how to identify and live to your values
Not only as shift workers, but simply as functioning humans we really struggle these days with negative body image and self-esteem issues.Social media and ingrained beliefs really are to blame for this.Negative Body Image leads ...
[26] - To nap or not to nap. What does the science say?
Do you really struggle with sleep?Could a nap be the solution for you?Do you know how to nap efficiently? What are the benefits of a nap?I discuss👉 How importa...
[25] - Highly recommended products for shift workers
Do you really struggle with sleep on night shift?Do you really struggle with NutritionIn today's episode, I take it back to the basics and talk about 8 products that I have found incredibly useful as a veteran shift ...
[24] - The shift workers nightmare, the quick turn around
Do you really struggle with the dreaded quick turnaround?The late into an earlyThe late into a rest day, into an early.It's the shift worker's nightmare and not only stresses us out but literally causes us to not sleep fo...