May 1, 2025 ⢠31 mins
Text me what you thought of the show đ
Hereâs the hard truth most people wonât tell you about shift work:
 Itâs not the roster that's ruining your healthâitâs what you do around it.
After more than 40 years working rotating shifts in law enforcement, Iâve seen firsthand that the job isnât the enemyâbut neglecting your body and your routines is.
Too many shift workers fall into a dangerous mindset: waiting for their employer to make changes, hoping for easier hours, or believing poor health is just âpart of the job.â
 Let me be clear: no one is coming to fix this for you.
 Your health is your responsibilityâand thatâs actually great news, because it means you can take back control.
In this episode, Iâll share the five core pillars that every shift worker must master to thrive (not just survive) on the job:
- Sleep: Why it needs to be your #1 priority, and how to make it happenâeven on night shift.
- Nutrition: How to fuel your body smartly with shift-friendly strategies that donât involve restriction or unrealistic planning.
- Hydration: Itâs not just about energyâitâs about brain function, immune support, and long-term resilience.
- Movement: You donât need a gym. You need intention. Learn how simple activity resets your bodyâs internal clock.
- Stress & Light Management: How breathwork, sunlight, and avoiding blue-light traps can change your mental and physical health more than you realise.
Weâll also break down the often-ignored science of light exposure, and why the artificial lighting in your workplace could be doing more harm than good. This isnât pseudoscienceâitâs biology, and itâs backed by real research and real results.
Ready to stop just surviving shift work?
Join us inside the Shift Workers Collective â a private, supportive community where youâll get access to proven strategies, real talk, and practical tools designed specifically for people like you.
Start thriving today at ahealthyshift.com
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ANNOUNCING
"The Shift Workers Collective"
https://join.ahealthyshift.com/the-shift-workers-collective
Click the link to learn all about it
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YOU CAN FIND ME AT
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Disclaimer: Roger Sutherland is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before implementing any strategies mentioned in this podcast. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Roger Sutherland will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of the information contained in this podcast including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness, or death.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
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 24-7Shift Worker for almost four
decades.
Through this podcast, I aim toeducate shift workers, using
evidence-based methods, to notonly survive the rigours of
(00:29):
shift work, but thrive.
My goal is to empower shiftworkers to improve their health
and wellbeing so they have moreenergy to do the things they
love.
Enjoy today's show.
Hey, hey, hey, it's Roger here,and welcome back to A Healthy
Shift.
This is the podcast for shiftworkers who want to take control
(00:52):
of their health and stop justsurviving shift work.
Now, today I'm going to beblunt, but I'm also going to be
very honest, because peopleoften ask me Roger, if shift
work is so bad, why don't youjust say it's going to kill us?
And here's why Because sayingshift work will kill you is lazy
(01:12):
, it doesn't help you and itliterally just scares you.
And here is the truth.
Yep, biologically, shift workis catastrophic.
That's a fact.
But it doesn't have to bediabolical.
What makes it diabolical iswhat we, as shift workers, do or
(01:32):
don't do about it.
Now I want to talk about thisand I need to go into this in
great detail at the momentbecause there is so much rubbish
out there that it justfrustrates me so much and I see
things on social media thatreally upsets me and I just I
(01:54):
can't even be bothered callingit out or doing what everybody
else is doing in relation to it.
A I don't have the confidencewith the social media to be able
to put reels together to makethem look any good.
But the bottom line is, when Italk about the certain practices
that I talk about and habitsand I've run challenges and help
(02:18):
people with simple habits andI've taken clients on and, well,
I've coached hundreds of peopleand, without doubt, I am
absolutely convinced that a lotof clients come to me and they
wait and the envelope with themagic pill in it never arrives
and they can't work it out andthat is because there isn't one
(02:38):
and you have to do the workaround it.
Now, the point that I want tomake in relation to this today,
which is really, reallyimportant, is we, as shift
workers, are self-sabotagers.
Now, when I put simplestrategies on social media and I
get comments made or I getmessages through my DMs on
(03:00):
social media, with people sayingto me oh, I can't do that, oh,
you've forgotten what it's like.
You don't realize this and youdon't realize that.
And that's where you're wrong,because I did shift work for 40
years and I can pretty muchguarantee that any person that's
actually listening to thisright now will not have done 40
(03:23):
years of shift work.
And if you have feel free toreach out because I'm happy to
have a chat with you around itand all kudos to you as well
I'll shake your hand because Iknow what it was like to do 40
years.
A lot of you have not done 10years.
A lot of you have never done 15years of shift work, and you're
trying to tell me at this pointin time that what I'm saying is
(03:47):
not right or wrong, or thatcan't be right, or I can't do
that, or you don't get it.
And that's where you're wrong,because I do get it.
And not only do I get it, but Ican look at it from my own
lived experience of 40 years.
But I can also look at it fromwhat science tells us in
relation to light exposure, inrelation to circadian rhythms,
(04:10):
in relation to the impacts onour biological health eating,
nutrition, hydration, all ofthose sort of things, and this
is what I wanted to cover off onon today's episode, because
this is really, really importantand I really need you to
understand.
I've tried to talk about this onsocial media but of course, the
algorithm hates it.
(04:30):
So what I'm doing is I'mstopping and I'm just going to
go into this in a little bitlong form, but I'm not going to
bang on about it for too longhere because it will just bore
you.
But I just want to be short andto the point.
So saying shift work will killyou is absolutely lazy and it
doesn't help you.
And if I could literally dopodcast after podcast here and I
(04:52):
could tell you categorically ifyou do this, this is the impact
on your health, this is whatit's going to do.
If you do this, this is theimpact.
And I could go on and on everysingle episode, but you've never
heard me talk about thedetrimental effects of working
shift work and, in particular,night shift.
What you do hear me do is youhear me putting together
(05:14):
strategies for you to help youto optimize it so that you can.
Now I've coached hundreds ofpeople and I've also influenced
a lot of people on social mediaand I get great feedback from
people that are putting thesesimple strategies in place for
the differences that they'remaking.
The one point that I do want tomake in relation to research
(05:35):
around shift work collectivelyit is diabolical and there's no
doubt about it, but I want youto remember that this is a very,
very emerging area of researchand they're looking at things
retrospectively now.
And that is without education,that is without people like me
reading journals, readinginformation that's being done by
researchers and getting it outthere.
(05:56):
This is without me, people likeMatt.
I'm not trying to blow my owntrumpet here, but I am a massive
advocate here for getting thisinformation out, and whenever I
talk to a researcher, aprofessor or a doctor or anybody
that's an expert in their field, I always say it's so important
to come onto the podcast andtalk about their research and
(06:17):
their expertise in an area,because when I do that, they're
happy, because otherwise theirwork sits in a journal gathering
dust on a library shelf andthat's a waste of time.
It's a waste of research andthey get the opportunity to talk
about it and talk about itpassionately.
And me talking to these peoplemeans I'm learning all the time.
(06:39):
All these conversations go onin the background all the time.
I've established contact withthese people and I can ask them
questions so that I get a betterunderstanding, a better handle
on circadian rhythms, on bluelight, the impact that light has
on us.
I read books.
I've got some fantastic booksthat I can highly recommend to
people to read to get a muchbetter understanding on
(07:03):
circadian rhythms and lightexposure and blue light exposure
and how to improve your sleep,and I'll be doing a post in
relation to that.
In fact, I might even just gothrough and do a podcast as a
bit of a book review to helppeople to understand which ones
will be the good ones.
So the first thing that Iwanted to say to you today and
(07:23):
this is it is I did not walk outof school and just start
preaching strategies that areachievable or completely out of
touch with the reality, and I'dlike to think that a lot of you
really understood that, becausethis is not who I am.
I did live it.
I was a cop on the front linefor over 40 years.
I did the night shifts for myentire career, not for a small
(07:46):
portion of it.
For the entire 40 years I didthe rotating shifts and the
night shifts.
I did the early starts While Iwas at the canine unit.
I was being called out at 2am,4am, 3am, finishing at 1am,
getting called out again at 4am.
I've done all of that at thesame time as being married and
(08:07):
raising young children.
I've done all of that.
I absolutely wrecked my healthuntil I realised that something
had to change, and it wasn'tuntil I'd done a really good
period of time in the force thatI actually realised that I've
lost myself here.
It got serious.
I was starting to suffer.
(08:28):
I can talk about this quiteopenly.
I had a medical check done atunder 40 years old as in under
40 years old, and my PSA, whichis the protein in your
bloodstream, was very high inrelation to prostate cancer.
So I've got an enlargedprostate which was throwing high
(08:53):
readings.
Now I've had biopsies on thatand there's been no issues
around it.
But hello, shift work andprostate cancer and prostate
issues right, because this iswhat happens, and in females,
the same thing happens in breastcancer and shift work is
directly linked to both of these.
So we've got to do somethingabout it and this is really
important Now.
(09:14):
I, at 35 years in the police andat 55 years of age, returned to
study.
I've got to tell you it waschallenging.
I did evidence-based nutritionbecause everybody around me was
gaining weight and looking awfuland I thought it's got to be
nutrition right.
So I studied evidence-basednutrition, not YouTube theories,
(09:37):
not influence with 2 millionfollowers on Instagram that are
absolute tosses, but realscience.
And what this did was it taughtme how to read research
properly, to look at datacritically.
And then when I combined thatknowledge with my own lived
experience, that's when it allreally started clicking.
(09:58):
And this is how I helpresearchers to understand the
realities of shift work comparedto what they're actually seeing
in the science, and I cancombine both.
So over the last six years, I'veliterally invested tens of
thousands of dollars and I meantens of thousands of dollars
(10:19):
getting educated in this space.
I want you to understand andhere's a fun fact about a
healthy shift, so that you knowI have never once in six years
taken one cent out of thisbusiness myself for me, out of
this business myself for me.
Every single cent that's comeinto this business I have
(10:41):
reinvested in education or toolsor equipment to help this
business to run, but I've neveronce taken $1 out of the
business to actually spend onmyself for anything.
So I've never drawn a wage onit and every cent that's come
into this business has beenreinvested into education,
because I want to become thego-to authority in this area not
(11:04):
a researcher, but someone whounderstands the research and has
lived experience, and this isreally, really important to me.
Now.
I've trained with some of thebest and I've mixed it with
experts, researchers, othercoaches.
I've worked really damn hard tomake sure that when I speak, I'm
speaking from truth, not anopinion, not a guesstimate from
(11:27):
the actual truth.
Now, you may not be able tofollow that, and I totally
understand that, but I can tellyou that this is what the
science tells us is the optimalway to go about it.
That, but I can tell you thatthis is what the science tells
us is the optimal way to goabout it.
And I would never say to you onnight shift oh, you only get
half an hour sleep and then yougot to get up and go.
I understand, I do understandall of that, but what we do do
is we make plenty of mistakesoutside of that right.
(11:52):
So we need to be really workinghard on that.
So, no, the bottom line is I amnot just a retired cop with a
loud voice.
I've absolutely worked hard andI've earned the right to say
what I say.
And here is what I know Toomany shift workers are wrecking
themselves, not because of thejob alone, but because of what
(12:14):
they are doing around it Poorsleep habits, chronic fatigue,
absolutely appalling foodchoices, living on energy drinks
and sugar during night shiftsand that's what makes our shift
work an absolute killer.
And what do we do?
We just shrug it off and say,oh well, that's shift work.
No, it's not.
(12:35):
That is actually your choice.
Now you don't have to do itlike that, but you do have to
take control, and that startswith five things.
And before I go into that, Iwant to tell you shift work's
not the problem and youremployer's not the problem, but
you actually have aresponsibility to manage
(12:55):
yourself and make a choice.
If shift work's not for you,it's not for you.
If you can't do it, you can'tdo it.
It's no good complaining aboutit, because I can guarantee,
guarantee to you that no one'scoming to save you no one.
So if you're sitting therewaiting for your boss to fix
things for you, you're a fooland they're not going to do it.
(13:15):
You need to take control andmanage yourself.
So let's get into those fivethings to start off with and
there'll be no surprise here toanybody that's attended any of
my seminars or to anybody whohas done or listened to me for
any period of time and it'sgoing to be my five pillars of
health.
The first one is sleep.
Sleep is imperative and it mustbe your number one priority.
(13:37):
Stop wearing it as a badge ofhealth.
The first one is sleep.
Sleep is imperative and it mustbe your number one priority.
Stop wearing it as a badge ofhonor.
Stop complaining and fillingyourself with caffeine that you
can't sleep.
Stop getting the wrong lightdiet and then complaining that
your sleep is not working foryou.
When you create the environment, your body will take care of
the rest, and there is always aclue in poor sleep as to why you
(14:02):
are sleeping poorly.
And if you're waking up tiredor fatigued, then you're not
doing everything rightbeforehand to get to that stage.
And that's all I'll say.
Nutrition Nutrition is somethingthat it's tough and I totally
understand it, but preparationis everything If you prepare and
(14:27):
work through simple strategiesaround food, and this is where I
talk about things like loadingyour food front-end loading your
food during the day andlightening it up later on.
For your metabolic healthResearch shows this is
categorically clear that we justneed to front-load majority of
our calories and give our body achance to digest it during the
(14:49):
day and then lighten it up andthen basically go low GI later
on in the day, after threeo'clock.
I've talked about this and thisis something that's really,
really important that we startpaying attention to.
And then the overnight fast,which is very important as well,
and it's not about oh, I can'tfast.
The question is, you need toask yourself how can I fast?
(15:12):
How can I go about it?
What is there that I can do?
What is it that you know thatwill help me to fast overnight?
Because this is what you needto know, not, I can't do that,
because that's just a cop-out.
What can I eat?
That's what we need to know.
What can I eat?
How can I go about it?
Because I need energy overnight, not, oh well, I'm just going
(15:33):
to eat.
Because this, because whatyou're doing is you're actually
biologically killing yourself,literally.
Hydration we underestimate thevalue of hydration as a shift
worker and the importance of itIncredibly important.
Hydration is incrediblyimportant for our fatigue.
It's also incredibly importantfor our immune system and to
keep everything moving throughour system when our digestive
(15:56):
tract is under stress.
So we need to make sure thatwe're keeping ourselves properly
hydrated.
Movement Shift workers you haveto move.
You have to get movement.
You've got to get outside andget that daylight and get moving
.
These are cues for yourcircadian rhythm.
So you've got to get out andget that movement.
You've got to make time.
You don't have to go to the gymand smash yourself in the gym.
(16:18):
Take yourself for a walk aroundthe block.
That's all you need to do.
Just get that gravity doing itsthing, get some fresh air and
get vertical and start moving ina forward motion, because
that's all you've got to do.
And the thing that I'm learningmore and more and more about as
a veteran and looking at theresearch, which I wish I'd
understood so much earlier, iswe have to learn to manage our
(16:42):
stress, and I think one of thebest ways that I've learned to
manage stress is definitelythrough meditation, but through
breathwork, which is pretty mucha meditation anyway, but
through breathwork, and I'mthrilled to announce it in
August I'm actually going to goand learn to be a certified
breathwork facilitator so that Ican run breathwork sessions to
(17:03):
help people, because it isincredibly underrated.
It's something that we have todo.
So let's learn how to breatheproperly so that we are managing
our autonomic nervous systemmuch better, because we are a
mess.
A lot of us, as shift workers,are a mess.
Our body is under stress purelyjust by shift work, and then
(17:24):
we're adding further stress tothat by the roles that we're
actually playing, and then wedon't do anything about getting
ourselves back into that nice,comfortable, rest and digest
parasympathetic side of ourautonomic nervous system.
So those are the pillars, andyou can't ignore any of them.
You have to crush all five ofthem, because every one of those
(17:48):
plays a key role in your healthand when you give them the
attention that they deserve,shift work literally stops
becoming a death sentence.
It becomes something that youcan manage and in fact, you can
even thrive in it.
So let's talk about some otherspecifics of what is so
important, and I'm going to talkabout blue light.
At night.
Now we hear all about phones,and I can tell you categorically
(18:12):
that the blue light from yourphone is not statistically
significant enough to actuallyimpact on your sleep.
That's it.
It's not.
So you might say, oh, I canlook at my phone.
I can lie in bed with thatphone six inches from my eye,
with a blue light blasting intoit, and I can sleep, no problems
at all.
That is sleep pressure.
(18:32):
That's doing that and you willgo to sleep.
But you'll wake up because,once that sleep pressure's gone,
your circadian rhythm's out ofline because of the blue light,
because you're sending that bluelight signal into your ride to
tell your body that it's daytime.
But it's really so much moreimportant because you need to
(18:56):
understand that melatonin isyour hormone.
It is released in the absenceof blue light.
Now, melatonin doesn't justtell your body that it's dark
outside.
It's actually a free, radicalscavenger, and I've done a whole
podcast on this.
Now.
This means it fights offoxidative stress, which is
(19:17):
linked to aging and even cancers.
While you sleep, melatonin goesaround as a scavenger and is
literally scavenging cancercells in your body.
And here you are lying in bedwith your phone, looking at your
phone because you're addictedto it, actually inhibiting that
melatonin, that cancer scavenger.
So, yeah, you might scroll yourphone and still fall asleep,
(19:40):
but what about your melatonin?
You've just suppressed it.
And what is the cost of thisone long-term?
And this is not just for shiftworkers, this is for everybody.
All right, Everybody Melatonin.
We are learning more and moreand more about melatonin.
It is a lot more important thanwhat you actually realise.
(20:01):
This unhealthy light at nightthat we're getting in our
workplaces must be addressed.
Blue light in hospitals,operating theatres, in control
rooms, anywhere this blue light,this white light which has got
the blue spectrum in it, has tobe addressed Now.
This is your responsibilitybecause it's an occ health and
(20:23):
safety issue and you need to beaddressing it.
It is your right to expect andyou are entitled to healthy
lighting at work.
Your employer knows that itscurrent lighting is unhealthy
and that's a fact.
They do know, they've been told, they've been warned and
there's books that are writtenon it, there's research papers
that are written on it and thelight that you're experiencing
(20:44):
in your hospital at night isactually killing you.
It's that simple and youremployer is doing that to you
and needs to be addressed, andit needs to be addressed ASAP.
And if you want to learn moreabout that lighting, I highly
recommend that you get hold ofthe book by Dr Martin Moore-Ede
(21:08):
and it's called the Light Doctorand have a read of that.
It's got about 240 scientificreferences in the back of it.
It's an amazing book and it'swritten to the layman so that
you can completely understandexactly what it is that light is
doing to us and how it'simpacting on us and why there is
such an escalation in cancersand problems in human health
(21:30):
around this lighting, sincecertain things have occurred
along the way and you will thenfurther understand this, but you
as an employer, have to addressit and put it up the line that
the lighting is hazardous in theworkplace and mark my words.
Write this date down today.
Write the time down, write thedate down.
(21:52):
I am telling you now that lightglobes within five years will
come with a warning on themhazardous if turned on at night.
Now you might laugh, but I willtell you that light globes that
have been produced today willcome with a warning on them
hazardous if turned on at night.
(22:12):
And there's a very, very validreason for this.
Okay, let's leave that onebehind, because that is a whole
can of worms in itself, and thisis not being a conspiracy
theorist or being a nut job.
This is fact and I think peopleneed to just have a really good
hard look at the book the LightDoctor and learned a lot about
(22:33):
it from the man that actuallydiscovered the suprachiasmatic
nucleus in the human brain,which is the light center, the
main circadian clock in the body.
Now, early light is alsoextremely critical, and this is
when we do want to get that bluelight in the morning.
The sun does more than help usto wake up.
(22:54):
It literally cues yourcircadian rhythm.
It regulates our hormones.
It sets your mood.
It actually helps us tosynthesize vitamin D, which we
can't get from food.
It's good for your sleep atnight and we've got all the
science in the world to provethis.
So whenever you can get outsideearly and get the sun on your
(23:16):
skin, do not underestimate thepower of sunlight on your skin.
There is so much, so much insunlight.
There is the green light inthat, which is good for
regulating our nervous system.
There is the ultraviolet, whichis fantastic for killing
bacteria.
There is the infrared, thatheat that you feel from the sun,
(23:38):
which is stimulatingmitochondrial energy, helping
with cell regeneration, helpingus with soreness and pain in
muscle.
There's the blue, which tellsus it's daytime.
There's the yellow and alsogreen, which is also stimulating
and telling us it's daytime.
(23:59):
It's really important that weactually get this sunlight into
our eyes every single day.
We're also now starting to hearmore and more and more about
chronomedicine, which issomething that's really
important to understand.
It's not just the medicine thatyou take and what medicine you
take anymore.
It's actually coming down towhen you take it, because the
(24:21):
time of day matters inaccordance to your circadian
rhythm.
It's not just a matter of justoh, I'll just take this daily.
When you take it can be reallyimportant to how effective it
actually is.
Vaccines are more effective inthe morning.
Some surgeries have much betteroutcomes depending on the time
of day that they're done.
(24:42):
We're learning so much moreabout our body's internal clock,
which affects every aspect ofour health.
Heart surgeries much betteroutcomes when they're done at a
particular time of the day.
It's really interesting andit's a really exciting emerging
area of science and the book byProfessor Russell Foster Time,
(25:06):
life, lifetime, lifetime I thinkit's called Lifetime is an
excellent book to read and ittalks all about this and the
importance of when we takemedications and things like that
around our circadian rhythm andaround reproduction and
everything.
It's just so important Now.
This is why I do what I do.
(25:28):
This is why I read.
The whole area fascinates meand I can bring this to you.
I give you simple,science-backed strategies that
work along with your humanbiology and not against it.
And if you don't take thisseriously now, you might not get
a chance to later, and that isjust how real this actually is.
(25:50):
I need people to understandthese simple strategies that you
can put in place.
Once you start trying it, youwill start to gain momentum,
because, let's be honest and Iwant you to take a really good
hard look in the mirror atyourself How's what you're doing
now going for you?
It's no good complaining aboutweight gain and complaining
(26:13):
about illness all the time andthings like that, and you've got
no energy and you'rechronically fatigued when you're
not doing the simple thingsthat we need to actually do.
I know you think, oh, I'll justhave a sleep in and catch up on
sleep.
That sleep in is actuallycausing you more problems.
It's actually desynchronizingyour circadian rhythm worse and
makes you tighter.
(26:33):
I can't get up early.
I've only had five hours sleep.
Get up early.
It's not working for you bystaying in bed and sleeping.
So get up early and get going.
Have yourself a 20-minute nap.
Later on in the day You've got20 minutes to scroll on your
phone.
Take that 20 minutes to closeyour eyes.
It'll make such a hugedifference to your life.
Trust me, it really, reallywill.
(26:57):
Now, while I'm helping andsupporting people, I'm going to
give this a plug as well,because you now don't have to do
this alone either.
I've created the Shift WorkersCollective, which is a private
community that I've built toeducate, support and to cheer on
shift workers who want to dobetter.
(27:18):
This is where I will share thelatest evidence-based tools to
help you to live healthier,longer and with much more energy
, even on night shift.
I will teach you in there theoptimal way to go about doing
shift work.
Not just nutrition, noteverything else outside that you
see on your social media.
(27:38):
This will all be shift workspecific.
So here's what I want you to doGo back to the show notes and
scroll down to the bottom andclick the link because there's a
link to the shift workcollective right there and join
us inside the collective,because you will a link to the
Shiftwork Collective right thereand join us inside the
collective, because you will getaccess to practical tools, real
(27:59):
conversations from real peopleand a community that not only
gets it but will actually getyou, because you don't just have
to survive shiftwork.
You can actually thrive, butonly if you start taking
responsibility for your light,your sleep, your food, your
movement and your stress.
(28:21):
So thanks for tuning in.
I'm Roger Sutherland.
This is A Healthy Shift andI'll catch you with more
evidence in the next episode.
Thank you for listening.
(28:42):
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
notified whenever a new episodeis released.
It would also be ever sohelpful if you could leave a
rating and review on the appyou're currently listening on.
If you want to know more aboutme or work with me, you can go
to a healthyyshiftcom.
I'll catch you on the next one.
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 24-7Shift Worker for almost four
decades.
Through this podcast, I aim toeducate shift workers, using
evidence-based methods, to notonly survive the rigours of
(00:29):
shift work, but thrive.
My goal is to empower shiftworkers to improve their health
and wellbeing so they have moreenergy to do the things they
love.
Enjoy today's show.
Hey, hey, hey, it's Roger here,and welcome back to A Healthy
Shift.
This is the podcast for shiftworkers who want to take control
(00:52):
of their health and stop justsurviving shift work.
Now, today I'm going to beblunt, but I'm also going to be
very honest, because peopleoften ask me Roger, if shift
work is so bad, why don't youjust say it's going to kill us?
And here's why Because sayingshift work will kill you is lazy
(01:12):
, it doesn't help you and itliterally just scares you.
And here is the truth.
Yep, biologically, shift workis catastrophic.
That's a fact.
But it doesn't have to bediabolical.
What makes it diabolical iswhat we, as shift workers, do or
(01:32):
don't do about it.
Now I want to talk about thisand I need to go into this in
great detail at the momentbecause there is so much rubbish
out there that it justfrustrates me so much and I see
things on social media thatreally upsets me and I just I
(01:54):
can't even be bothered callingit out or doing what everybody
else is doing in relation to it.
A I don't have the confidencewith the social media to be able
to put reels together to makethem look any good.
But the bottom line is, when Italk about the certain practices
that I talk about and habitsand I've run challenges and help
(02:18):
people with simple habits andI've taken clients on and, well,
I've coached hundreds of peopleand, without doubt, I am
absolutely convinced that a lotof clients come to me and they
wait and the envelope with themagic pill in it never arrives
and they can't work it out andthat is because there isn't one
(02:38):
and you have to do the workaround it.
Now, the point that I want tomake in relation to this today,
which is really, reallyimportant, is we, as shift
workers, are self-sabotagers.
Now, when I put simplestrategies on social media and I
get comments made or I getmessages through my DMs on
(03:00):
social media, with people sayingto me oh, I can't do that, oh,
you've forgotten what it's like.
You don't realize this and youdon't realize that.
And that's where you're wrong,because I did shift work for 40
years and I can pretty muchguarantee that any person that's
actually listening to thisright now will not have done 40
(03:23):
years of shift work.
And if you have feel free toreach out because I'm happy to
have a chat with you around itand all kudos to you as well
I'll shake your hand because Iknow what it was like to do 40
years.
A lot of you have not done 10years.
A lot of you have never done 15years of shift work, and you're
trying to tell me at this pointin time that what I'm saying is
(03:47):
not right or wrong, or thatcan't be right, or I can't do
that, or you don't get it.
And that's where you're wrong,because I do get it.
And not only do I get it, but Ican look at it from my own
lived experience of 40 years.
But I can also look at it fromwhat science tells us in
relation to light exposure, inrelation to circadian rhythms,
(04:10):
in relation to the impacts onour biological health eating,
nutrition, hydration, all ofthose sort of things, and this
is what I wanted to cover off onon today's episode, because
this is really, really importantand I really need you to
understand.
I've tried to talk about this onsocial media but of course, the
algorithm hates it.
(04:30):
So what I'm doing is I'mstopping and I'm just going to
go into this in a little bitlong form, but I'm not going to
bang on about it for too longhere because it will just bore
you.
But I just want to be short andto the point.
So saying shift work will killyou is absolutely lazy and it
doesn't help you.
And if I could literally dopodcast after podcast here and I
(04:52):
could tell you categorically ifyou do this, this is the impact
on your health, this is whatit's going to do.
If you do this, this is theimpact.
And I could go on and on everysingle episode, but you've never
heard me talk about thedetrimental effects of working
shift work and, in particular,night shift.
What you do hear me do is youhear me putting together
(05:14):
strategies for you to help youto optimize it so that you can.
Now I've coached hundreds ofpeople and I've also influenced
a lot of people on social mediaand I get great feedback from
people that are putting thesesimple strategies in place for
the differences that they'remaking.
The one point that I do want tomake in relation to research
(05:35):
around shift work collectivelyit is diabolical and there's no
doubt about it, but I want youto remember that this is a very,
very emerging area of researchand they're looking at things
retrospectively now.
And that is without education,that is without people like me
reading journals, readinginformation that's being done by
researchers and getting it outthere.
(05:56):
This is without me, people likeMatt.
I'm not trying to blow my owntrumpet here, but I am a massive
advocate here for getting thisinformation out, and whenever I
talk to a researcher, aprofessor or a doctor or anybody
that's an expert in their field, I always say it's so important
to come onto the podcast andtalk about their research and
(06:17):
their expertise in an area,because when I do that, they're
happy, because otherwise theirwork sits in a journal gathering
dust on a library shelf andthat's a waste of time.
It's a waste of research andthey get the opportunity to talk
about it and talk about itpassionately.
And me talking to these peoplemeans I'm learning all the time.
(06:39):
All these conversations go onin the background all the time.
I've established contact withthese people and I can ask them
questions so that I get a betterunderstanding, a better handle
on circadian rhythms, on bluelight, the impact that light has
on us.
I read books.
I've got some fantastic booksthat I can highly recommend to
people to read to get a muchbetter understanding on
(07:03):
circadian rhythms and lightexposure and blue light exposure
and how to improve your sleep,and I'll be doing a post in
relation to that.
In fact, I might even just gothrough and do a podcast as a
bit of a book review to helppeople to understand which ones
will be the good ones.
So the first thing that Iwanted to say to you today and
(07:23):
this is it is I did not walk outof school and just start
preaching strategies that areachievable or completely out of
touch with the reality, and I'dlike to think that a lot of you
really understood that, becausethis is not who I am.
I did live it.
I was a cop on the front linefor over 40 years.
I did the night shifts for myentire career, not for a small
(07:46):
portion of it.
For the entire 40 years I didthe rotating shifts and the
night shifts.
I did the early starts While Iwas at the canine unit.
I was being called out at 2am,4am, 3am, finishing at 1am,
getting called out again at 4am.
I've done all of that at thesame time as being married and
(08:07):
raising young children.
I've done all of that.
I absolutely wrecked my healthuntil I realised that something
had to change, and it wasn'tuntil I'd done a really good
period of time in the force thatI actually realised that I've
lost myself here.
It got serious.
I was starting to suffer.
(08:28):
I can talk about this quiteopenly.
I had a medical check done atunder 40 years old as in under
40 years old, and my PSA, whichis the protein in your
bloodstream, was very high inrelation to prostate cancer.
So I've got an enlargedprostate which was throwing high
(08:53):
readings.
Now I've had biopsies on thatand there's been no issues
around it.
But hello, shift work andprostate cancer and prostate
issues right, because this iswhat happens, and in females,
the same thing happens in breastcancer and shift work is
directly linked to both of these.
So we've got to do somethingabout it and this is really
important Now.
(09:14):
I, at 35 years in the police andat 55 years of age, returned to
study.
I've got to tell you it waschallenging.
I did evidence-based nutritionbecause everybody around me was
gaining weight and looking awfuland I thought it's got to be
nutrition right.
So I studied evidence-basednutrition, not YouTube theories,
(09:37):
not influence with 2 millionfollowers on Instagram that are
absolute tosses, but realscience.
And what this did was it taughtme how to read research
properly, to look at datacritically.
And then when I combined thatknowledge with my own lived
experience, that's when it allreally started clicking.
(09:58):
And this is how I helpresearchers to understand the
realities of shift work comparedto what they're actually seeing
in the science, and I cancombine both.
So over the last six years, I'veliterally invested tens of
thousands of dollars and I meantens of thousands of dollars
(10:19):
getting educated in this space.
I want you to understand andhere's a fun fact about a
healthy shift, so that you knowI have never once in six years
taken one cent out of thisbusiness myself for me, out of
this business myself for me.
Every single cent that's comeinto this business I have
(10:41):
reinvested in education or toolsor equipment to help this
business to run, but I've neveronce taken $1 out of the
business to actually spend onmyself for anything.
So I've never drawn a wage onit and every cent that's come
into this business has beenreinvested into education,
because I want to become thego-to authority in this area not
(11:04):
a researcher, but someone whounderstands the research and has
lived experience, and this isreally, really important to me.
Now.
I've trained with some of thebest and I've mixed it with
experts, researchers, othercoaches.
I've worked really damn hard tomake sure that when I speak, I'm
speaking from truth, not anopinion, not a guesstimate from
(11:27):
the actual truth.
Now, you may not be able tofollow that, and I totally
understand that, but I can tellyou that this is what the
science tells us is the optimalway to go about it.
That, but I can tell you thatthis is what the science tells
us is the optimal way to goabout it.
And I would never say to you onnight shift oh, you only get
half an hour sleep and then yougot to get up and go.
I understand, I do understandall of that, but what we do do
is we make plenty of mistakesoutside of that right.
(11:52):
So we need to be really workinghard on that.
So, no, the bottom line is I amnot just a retired cop with a
loud voice.
I've absolutely worked hard andI've earned the right to say
what I say.
And here is what I know Toomany shift workers are wrecking
themselves, not because of thejob alone, but because of what
(12:14):
they are doing around it Poorsleep habits, chronic fatigue,
absolutely appalling foodchoices, living on energy drinks
and sugar during night shiftsand that's what makes our shift
work an absolute killer.
And what do we do?
We just shrug it off and say,oh well, that's shift work.
No, it's not.
(12:35):
That is actually your choice.
Now you don't have to do itlike that, but you do have to
take control, and that startswith five things.
And before I go into that, Iwant to tell you shift work's
not the problem and youremployer's not the problem, but
you actually have aresponsibility to manage
(12:55):
yourself and make a choice.
If shift work's not for you,it's not for you.
If you can't do it, you can'tdo it.
It's no good complaining aboutit, because I can guarantee,
guarantee to you that no one'scoming to save you no one.
So if you're sitting therewaiting for your boss to fix
things for you, you're a fooland they're not going to do it.
(13:15):
You need to take control andmanage yourself.
So let's get into those fivethings to start off with and
there'll be no surprise here toanybody that's attended any of
my seminars or to anybody whohas done or listened to me for
any period of time and it'sgoing to be my five pillars of
health.
The first one is sleep.
Sleep is imperative and it mustbe your number one priority.
(13:37):
Stop wearing it as a badge ofhealth.
The first one is sleep.
Sleep is imperative and it mustbe your number one priority.
Stop wearing it as a badge ofhonor.
Stop complaining and fillingyourself with caffeine that you
can't sleep.
Stop getting the wrong lightdiet and then complaining that
your sleep is not working foryou.
When you create the environment, your body will take care of
the rest, and there is always aclue in poor sleep as to why you
(14:02):
are sleeping poorly.
And if you're waking up tiredor fatigued, then you're not
doing everything rightbeforehand to get to that stage.
And that's all I'll say.
Nutrition Nutrition is somethingthat it's tough and I totally
understand it, but preparationis everything If you prepare and
(14:27):
work through simple strategiesaround food, and this is where I
talk about things like loadingyour food front-end loading your
food during the day andlightening it up later on.
For your metabolic healthResearch shows this is
categorically clear that we justneed to front-load majority of
our calories and give our body achance to digest it during the
(14:49):
day and then lighten it up andthen basically go low GI later
on in the day, after threeo'clock.
I've talked about this and thisis something that's really,
really important that we startpaying attention to.
And then the overnight fast,which is very important as well,
and it's not about oh, I can'tfast.
The question is, you need toask yourself how can I fast?
(15:12):
How can I go about it?
What is there that I can do?
What is it that you know thatwill help me to fast overnight?
Because this is what you needto know, not, I can't do that,
because that's just a cop-out.
What can I eat?
That's what we need to know.
What can I eat?
How can I go about it?
Because I need energy overnight, not, oh well, I'm just going
(15:33):
to eat.
Because this, because whatyou're doing is you're actually
biologically killing yourself,literally.
Hydration we underestimate thevalue of hydration as a shift
worker and the importance of itIncredibly important.
Hydration is incrediblyimportant for our fatigue.
It's also incredibly importantfor our immune system and to
keep everything moving throughour system when our digestive
(15:56):
tract is under stress.
So we need to make sure thatwe're keeping ourselves properly
hydrated.
Movement Shift workers you haveto move.
You have to get movement.
You've got to get outside andget that daylight and get moving
.
These are cues for yourcircadian rhythm.
So you've got to get out andget that movement.
You've got to make time.
You don't have to go to the gymand smash yourself in the gym.
(16:18):
Take yourself for a walk aroundthe block.
That's all you need to do.
Just get that gravity doing itsthing, get some fresh air and
get vertical and start moving ina forward motion, because
that's all you've got to do.
And the thing that I'm learningmore and more and more about as
a veteran and looking at theresearch, which I wish I'd
understood so much earlier, iswe have to learn to manage our
(16:42):
stress, and I think one of thebest ways that I've learned to
manage stress is definitelythrough meditation, but through
breathwork, which is pretty mucha meditation anyway, but
through breathwork, and I'mthrilled to announce it in
August I'm actually going to goand learn to be a certified
breathwork facilitator so that Ican run breathwork sessions to
(17:03):
help people, because it isincredibly underrated.
It's something that we have todo.
So let's learn how to breatheproperly so that we are managing
our autonomic nervous systemmuch better, because we are a
mess.
A lot of us, as shift workers,are a mess.
Our body is under stress purelyjust by shift work, and then
(17:24):
we're adding further stress tothat by the roles that we're
actually playing, and then wedon't do anything about getting
ourselves back into that nice,comfortable, rest and digest
parasympathetic side of ourautonomic nervous system.
So those are the pillars, andyou can't ignore any of them.
You have to crush all five ofthem, because every one of those
(17:48):
plays a key role in your healthand when you give them the
attention that they deserve,shift work literally stops
becoming a death sentence.
It becomes something that youcan manage and in fact, you can
even thrive in it.
So let's talk about some otherspecifics of what is so
important, and I'm going to talkabout blue light.
At night.
Now we hear all about phones,and I can tell you categorically
(18:12):
that the blue light from yourphone is not statistically
significant enough to actuallyimpact on your sleep.
That's it.
It's not.
So you might say, oh, I canlook at my phone.
I can lie in bed with thatphone six inches from my eye,
with a blue light blasting intoit, and I can sleep, no problems
at all.
That is sleep pressure.
(18:32):
That's doing that and you willgo to sleep.
But you'll wake up because,once that sleep pressure's gone,
your circadian rhythm's out ofline because of the blue light,
because you're sending that bluelight signal into your ride to
tell your body that it's daytime.
But it's really so much moreimportant because you need to
(18:56):
understand that melatonin isyour hormone.
It is released in the absenceof blue light.
Now, melatonin doesn't justtell your body that it's dark
outside.
It's actually a free, radicalscavenger, and I've done a whole
podcast on this.
Now.
This means it fights offoxidative stress, which is
(19:17):
linked to aging and even cancers.
While you sleep, melatonin goesaround as a scavenger and is
literally scavenging cancercells in your body.
And here you are lying in bedwith your phone, looking at your
phone because you're addictedto it, actually inhibiting that
melatonin, that cancer scavenger.
So, yeah, you might scroll yourphone and still fall asleep,
(19:40):
but what about your melatonin?
You've just suppressed it.
And what is the cost of thisone long-term?
And this is not just for shiftworkers, this is for everybody.
All right, Everybody Melatonin.
We are learning more and moreand more about melatonin.
It is a lot more important thanwhat you actually realise.
(20:01):
This unhealthy light at nightthat we're getting in our
workplaces must be addressed.
Blue light in hospitals,operating theatres, in control
rooms, anywhere this blue light,this white light which has got
the blue spectrum in it, has tobe addressed Now.
This is your responsibilitybecause it's an occ health and
(20:23):
safety issue and you need to beaddressing it.
It is your right to expect andyou are entitled to healthy
lighting at work.
Your employer knows that itscurrent lighting is unhealthy
and that's a fact.
They do know, they've been told, they've been warned and
there's books that are writtenon it, there's research papers
that are written on it and thelight that you're experiencing
(20:44):
in your hospital at night isactually killing you.
It's that simple and youremployer is doing that to you
and needs to be addressed, andit needs to be addressed ASAP.
And if you want to learn moreabout that lighting, I highly
recommend that you get hold ofthe book by Dr Martin Moore-Ede
(21:08):
and it's called the Light Doctorand have a read of that.
It's got about 240 scientificreferences in the back of it.
It's an amazing book and it'swritten to the layman so that
you can completely understandexactly what it is that light is
doing to us and how it'simpacting on us and why there is
such an escalation in cancersand problems in human health
(21:30):
around this lighting, sincecertain things have occurred
along the way and you will thenfurther understand this, but you
as an employer, have to addressit and put it up the line that
the lighting is hazardous in theworkplace and mark my words.
Write this date down today.
Write the time down, write thedate down.
(21:52):
I am telling you now that lightglobes within five years will
come with a warning on themhazardous if turned on at night.
Now you might laugh, but I willtell you that light globes that
have been produced today willcome with a warning on them
hazardous if turned on at night.
(22:12):
And there's a very, very validreason for this.
Okay, let's leave that onebehind, because that is a whole
can of worms in itself, and thisis not being a conspiracy
theorist or being a nut job.
This is fact and I think peopleneed to just have a really good
hard look at the book the LightDoctor and learned a lot about
(22:33):
it from the man that actuallydiscovered the suprachiasmatic
nucleus in the human brain,which is the light center, the
main circadian clock in the body.
Now, early light is alsoextremely critical, and this is
when we do want to get that bluelight in the morning.
The sun does more than help usto wake up.
(22:54):
It literally cues yourcircadian rhythm.
It regulates our hormones.
It sets your mood.
It actually helps us tosynthesize vitamin D, which we
can't get from food.
It's good for your sleep atnight and we've got all the
science in the world to provethis.
So whenever you can get outsideearly and get the sun on your
(23:16):
skin, do not underestimate thepower of sunlight on your skin.
There is so much, so much insunlight.
There is the green light inthat, which is good for
regulating our nervous system.
There is the ultraviolet, whichis fantastic for killing
bacteria.
There is the infrared, thatheat that you feel from the sun,
(23:38):
which is stimulatingmitochondrial energy, helping
with cell regeneration, helpingus with soreness and pain in
muscle.
There's the blue, which tellsus it's daytime.
There's the yellow and alsogreen, which is also stimulating
and telling us it's daytime.
(23:59):
It's really important that weactually get this sunlight into
our eyes every single day.
We're also now starting to hearmore and more and more about
chronomedicine, which issomething that's really
important to understand.
It's not just the medicine thatyou take and what medicine you
take anymore.
It's actually coming down towhen you take it, because the
(24:21):
time of day matters inaccordance to your circadian
rhythm.
It's not just a matter of justoh, I'll just take this daily.
When you take it can be reallyimportant to how effective it
actually is.
Vaccines are more effective inthe morning.
Some surgeries have much betteroutcomes depending on the time
of day that they're done.
(24:42):
We're learning so much moreabout our body's internal clock,
which affects every aspect ofour health.
Heart surgeries much betteroutcomes when they're done at a
particular time of the day.
It's really interesting andit's a really exciting emerging
area of science and the book byProfessor Russell Foster Time,
(25:06):
life, lifetime, lifetime I thinkit's called Lifetime is an
excellent book to read and ittalks all about this and the
importance of when we takemedications and things like that
around our circadian rhythm andaround reproduction and
everything.
It's just so important Now.
This is why I do what I do.
(25:28):
This is why I read.
The whole area fascinates meand I can bring this to you.
I give you simple,science-backed strategies that
work along with your humanbiology and not against it.
And if you don't take thisseriously now, you might not get
a chance to later, and that isjust how real this actually is.
(25:50):
I need people to understandthese simple strategies that you
can put in place.
Once you start trying it, youwill start to gain momentum,
because, let's be honest and Iwant you to take a really good
hard look in the mirror atyourself How's what you're doing
now going for you?
It's no good complaining aboutweight gain and complaining
(26:13):
about illness all the time andthings like that, and you've got
no energy and you'rechronically fatigued when you're
not doing the simple thingsthat we need to actually do.
I know you think, oh, I'll justhave a sleep in and catch up on
sleep.
That sleep in is actuallycausing you more problems.
It's actually desynchronizingyour circadian rhythm worse and
makes you tighter.
(26:33):
I can't get up early.
I've only had five hours sleep.
Get up early.
It's not working for you bystaying in bed and sleeping.
So get up early and get going.
Have yourself a 20-minute nap.
Later on in the day You've got20 minutes to scroll on your
phone.
Take that 20 minutes to closeyour eyes.
It'll make such a hugedifference to your life.
Trust me, it really, reallywill.
(26:57):
Now, while I'm helping andsupporting people, I'm going to
give this a plug as well,because you now don't have to do
this alone either.
I've created the Shift WorkersCollective, which is a private
community that I've built toeducate, support and to cheer on
shift workers who want to dobetter.
(27:18):
This is where I will share thelatest evidence-based tools to
help you to live healthier,longer and with much more energy
, even on night shift.
I will teach you in there theoptimal way to go about doing
shift work.
Not just nutrition, noteverything else outside that you
see on your social media.
(27:38):
This will all be shift workspecific.
So here's what I want you to doGo back to the show notes and
scroll down to the bottom andclick the link because there's a
link to the shift workcollective right there and join
us inside the collective,because you will a link to the
Shiftwork Collective right thereand join us inside the
collective, because you will getaccess to practical tools, real
(27:59):
conversations from real peopleand a community that not only
gets it but will actually getyou, because you don't just have
to survive shiftwork.
You can actually thrive, butonly if you start taking
responsibility for your light,your sleep, your food, your
movement and your stress.
(28:21):
So thanks for tuning in.
I'm Roger Sutherland.
This is A Healthy Shift andI'll catch you with more
evidence in the next episode.
Thank you for listening.
(28:42):
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
notified whenever a new episodeis released.
It would also be ever sohelpful if you could leave a
rating and review on the appyou're currently listening on.
If you want to know more aboutme or work with me, you can go
to a healthyyshiftcom.
I'll catch you on the next one.
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