July 31, 2025 • 16 mins
Text me what you thought of the show 😊
Shift work isn’t gender neutral, and women are paying the price.
In this episode, I break down why female bodies struggle more with 24/7 rosters — and what can actually help.
- How circadian and menstrual cycles clash
- Why PMS, gut issues, and poor recovery are more common in women
- Why standard shift work advice fails most female workers
- What needs to change — for individuals and organisations
Listen now to understand what’s really going on — and how to protect your health, energy, and hormones.
If you're a woman working shifts — or leading a team who does — this is the information you’ve been missing.
Download The Seminar Experience Brochure at ahealthyshift.com
It includes everything you need to know about the Women & Shift Work Workshop and other powerful sessions designed for 24/7 teams.
Share it with your People & Culture or Health & Wellbeing Manager, and help bring this vital education to your workplace.
----------------------------
ANNOUNCING
"The Shift Workers Collective"
https://join.ahealthyshift.com/the-shift-workers-collective
Click the link to learn all about it
-----------------------------
YOU CAN FIND ME AT
_____________________
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.
_______________________
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
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 and hey there, and welcome back to a Healthy
Shift podcast.
My name, you know it, it'sRoger Sutherland.
(00:50):
I'm a veteran shift worker,health and wellbeing coach and
someone who has worked withhundreds of women one-to-one
working 24-7 roles.
And today we're going to talkabout something that needs to be
said clearly, and I'm going tosay it right now Shift work
really is harder for women, andit's not a mindset thing.
(01:13):
There are real and biologicalreasons as to why.
Now, before anyone rolls theireyes and thinks this is about
complaining, I want you to stickwith me.
This is about awareness,support and giving our women
legends that are doing this jobwhat they need to do it and to
stay well doing it.
(01:34):
I want to put a disclaimer onthis as I very first start To
those of you listening.
It is very apparent that I amnot female.
I am a male.
But I do want to say this, andthat is I've coached hundreds of
women shift workers and I'vehad quite in-depth conversations
with them around the impacts ofshift work and some of the
(01:55):
things that they've raised withme.
I've gone off and had toresearch to work out why certain
things occur, how and what, andthe more I read, the more I
understand just how difficultshift work is, and at the end of
this podcast, I've gotsomething that will really help
you females and females in ashift working environment.
(02:18):
So stay with me and let's getthis show on the road.
Now.
Let's talk hormones.
Just to start off with allright Now, female biology is
actually built around rhythms.
Now, unlike us males, femaleshave not only they have sorry,
(02:38):
unlike us males, females have acircadian rhythm, which we've
got, but they also have aninfradian rhythm, which is the
menstrual cycle.
Now, this works on a roughly28-day pattern.
Males, we don't have this, sowe don't have to deal with it.
Now, shift work is working on a24-hour clock, often in our
(03:02):
rotating rosters, which can be avariety of morning and
afternoons and nights, or a mixof all of the same in the one
week.
So, right out of the gate,women are trying to sync two
completely different systems atonce the 28-day cycle with the
24-hour cycle.
(03:22):
We don't have to do that.
Females do, and the end resultof this is irregular periods.
Some females suffer from heavybleeding, they get worse PMS
symptoms.
Shift work definitely impactson PMS Mood swings, low energy
(03:44):
and sometimes even amenorrhea,which is the complete loss of a
period altogether.
And why does this happen?
Because the body doesn't feelsafe.
And if the body doesn't feelsafe, why would it be in a
childbearing state?
Keep that in mind.
Now.
I've coached hundreds of femaleshift workers.
I've said this and this patterncomes up over and over again.
(04:09):
And what most thought was, oh,it's just stress or it's just
part of the job, is actually thebody screaming out of sync with
its own natural rhythm.
Now let's talk about thedigestion side of things.
Let's talk about the digestionside of things.
So many women in shift workstruggle with bloating,
(04:36):
constipation, nausea or justfeeling off after meals.
Now we know that estrogen andprogesterone both impact gut
motility and how well food movesthrough the gut.
So let's add that to poor sleep, disrupted eating windows,
night shifts, caffeine reliance,which impacts on our gut, and
then often eating far too littleduring the day, and it's a
perfect storm for gut issues,because what happens?
(04:58):
Restrict, restrict all day.
I'm trying to diet because thisis how I should look, this is
how I should wear my clothes,this is everything.
And then, all of a sudden, weget to the stage where we get to
the nighttime and we're lookingfor highly palatable
carbohydrates and fats.
Now, when your gut's off youknow as well as I do your brain
is off, your mood's off and yourperformance suffers badly, and
(05:22):
the last thing you're going tobe feeling low is intimacy, and
the last thing you're going tobe feeling low is intimacy.
So it impacts greatly.
I think it's really importantthat females know more about
themselves so that they can thenunderstand why it is that they
actually feel the way that theydo.
Those are perfectly legitimatereasons.
(05:42):
If I go back into talking aboutthe digestion just for one
minute, females are biologicallydifferent internally than males
are.
It takes food on average 14hours longer to transit from
time of consumption to time ofevacuation in a female body
(06:03):
compared to a male.
Now, this is significant.
14 hours is a long time, so isit any wonder that that food
sits there and goes through andthen they end up with gas and
bloating?
The stomach in a female is lessacidic, so therefore it takes
longer to break.
It also empties slower and thecolon is longer and it evacuates
(06:28):
slower and we also have alonger digestive tract.
And I want you to think aboutwhere the female sexual organs
are compared to where the malesexual organs are.
Male sexual organs all externaldoesn't impact in any way
whatsoever.
(06:49):
Female you've got your colonwrapped basically around your
uterus in, occupying the samespace in your abdominal cavity.
Is it any wonder that, withfood that takes longer than 14
hours to transit, is it anywonder that during the luteal
phase of your infradian rhythmthat you're suffering with
(07:10):
highly agitated uterus andovaries and fallopian tubes, and
all of that with a highlyagitated bowel which is taking
longer to evacuate as well?
Hello, gas, bloating,constipation, diarrhea, all
sorts of problems, and this isliterally what happens, and
that's why a lot of women reallysuffer with this.
(07:33):
So let's now talk about fatigueas well, because women in shift
work don't just feel tired, theyfeel wiped, exhausted,
struggling to concentrate,running on fumes, and part of
this is sleep disruption, ofcourse, but there is more to it.
There are sex differences insleep architecture as well.
(07:55):
Women tend to get more slowwave sleep that deep,
restorative sleep, but they'realso more vulnerable to insomnia
and sleep fragmentation whenthe sleep timing is off.
You can't just catch up onsleep the next day and expect it
to fix everything.
And also, we've got to keepremembering that the females
(08:16):
generally are the householdrunners.
It's not being sexist, it'sliterally what it is.
The women are the ones that arethinking about what's got to be
done and how and where, and thekids and what's happening with
that.
It's natural.
This is what happens.
Now let's not forget recovery,because most women aren't just
shift workers, they're carers,they're mums, they're partners,
(08:38):
they're organisers, and the loaddoesn't end when the shift ends
, and that means less recoverytime between shifts.
Females are under more pressureand they've often got a deeper
sense of burnout as well.
And the worst part, they'realways made to feel like they're
failing, when in reality,they've just never been shown
(08:58):
how to work with their biologyin a job that literally goes
against their biology.
But here's the good news,because this can be changed and
it's about awareness and thereare strategies for females that
work.
I've helped hundreds of shiftworkers and I've got fantastic
(09:20):
feedback from them.
We don't focus on nutrition.
We focus on everything elsearound it to get everything else
right, and this helps you totake back control over your
energy, over your cycle, overyour gut health and, more
importantly for you as well,your sleep.
Now we use simple,evidence-based tools that align
(09:41):
with how women's bodies actuallywork, not the tools built for
blokes in the 70s.
That's just no good.
It's practical, it'spersonalized and it actually
works in real world 24-7 rosters.
The testimonies are on thewebsite for the females that
I've coached.
If you go to ahealthyshiftcomand go up the top and then go to
(10:04):
coaching and under testimonials, you'll see testimonials from
females that I've worked with,and majority of them will tell
you I don't work on nutritionbecause we work on everything
else sitting over the top ofthat, and nutrition takes care
of itself.
We don't realize just how muchpressure females are under and
also, every single day that wego to put a uniform on, you are
(10:27):
constantly reminded of eithergaining weight, losing weight or
whatever.
It is a massive problem andthat's why I've gone down the
line of building this.
As part of the Shiftwork seminarexperience, I now offer a
dedicated women and Shiftworkworkshop, which is an optional
(10:49):
add-on to this, and this goesdeep into how female physiology
clashes with ShiftWork and whatthere is that we can do about it
.
The impact of sleep disruptionon hormones and mood, how to
support gut health and managedigestion on and off shift, what
the research says aboutsupplements like creatine and
(11:10):
omega-3s and vitamin D,especially for female
performance, recovery and theirwell-being.
And what's an optimal way toeat, move and recover
differently.
As a female working 24-7 shifts, now I just love to stand on
stage and deliver this, and Iknow it comes from a male
(11:33):
perspective, but I've got totell you I'm incredibly
passionate about this.
I thoroughly enjoy deliveringfemale-specific workshops
because of the impact that itactually has on the female shift
working population.
Once women feel seen andunderstood and supported, the
(11:53):
difference in them is massive,and if you are a manager or a
team leader or you work in thehealth and wellbeing space and
you're listening to this podcast, you need to look after your
female shift workers more thanyou need to look.
I mean, we need to look afterboth, but there has to be
considerations for female shiftworkers.
End of rant.
(12:15):
If you're a leader, a manager,or you're someone in HR or
health and wellbeing and you arelooking better to support your
female staff, or if you are afemale shift worker who just
wants to understand your bodybetter, go into the show notes
and in there is to just clickthe seminar experience link
(12:36):
which is down there.
Now you will get access to thatlanding page.
You can read about what theseminar experience includes and
what optional add-ons thereactually are, and then you can
download the e-brochure, whichexplains absolutely everything,
and you can attach it to anapplication and put it up the
line to your health and wellnessteam.
(12:58):
This is what needs to happen.
We need to get education intoour shift working environments
because without it, no one's gota clue, and if you don't make
them aware that someone like meexists that can support you,
then we've got a big problem.
They can clue, and if you don'tmake them aware that someone
like me exists that can supportyou, then we've got a big
problem.
They can't possibly know if youdon't make them aware.
Once you've downloaded thee-brochure, I'll reach out and
(13:22):
we can chat about how I cantailor a workshop for your team,
and it's time that we stoppedexpecting women to just push
through shift work and providestrategies that suit them, not
strategies for males, or justgeneric shift working strategies
.
It doesn't work.
(13:42):
Let's support them properly.
Let's give them what they needto thrive.
Thanks for tuning into A HealthyShift.
I'll catch you, ladies and youguys, in the next one.
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
(14:02):
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 ahealthyshiftcom.
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 and hey there, and welcome back to a Healthy
Shift podcast.
My name, you know it, it'sRoger Sutherland.
(00:50):
I'm a veteran shift worker,health and wellbeing coach and
someone who has worked withhundreds of women one-to-one
working 24-7 roles.
And today we're going to talkabout something that needs to be
said clearly, and I'm going tosay it right now Shift work
really is harder for women, andit's not a mindset thing.
(01:13):
There are real and biologicalreasons as to why.
Now, before anyone rolls theireyes and thinks this is about
complaining, I want you to stickwith me.
This is about awareness,support and giving our women
legends that are doing this jobwhat they need to do it and to
stay well doing it.
(01:34):
I want to put a disclaimer onthis as I very first start To
those of you listening.
It is very apparent that I amnot female.
I am a male.
But I do want to say this, andthat is I've coached hundreds of
women shift workers and I'vehad quite in-depth conversations
with them around the impacts ofshift work and some of the
(01:55):
things that they've raised withme.
I've gone off and had toresearch to work out why certain
things occur, how and what, andthe more I read, the more I
understand just how difficultshift work is, and at the end of
this podcast, I've gotsomething that will really help
you females and females in ashift working environment.
(02:18):
So stay with me and let's getthis show on the road.
Now.
Let's talk hormones.
Just to start off with allright Now, female biology is
actually built around rhythms.
Now, unlike us males, femaleshave not only they have sorry,
(02:38):
unlike us males, females have acircadian rhythm, which we've
got, but they also have aninfradian rhythm, which is the
menstrual cycle.
Now, this works on a roughly28-day pattern.
Males, we don't have this, sowe don't have to deal with it.
Now, shift work is working on a24-hour clock, often in our
(03:02):
rotating rosters, which can be avariety of morning and
afternoons and nights, or a mixof all of the same in the one
week.
So, right out of the gate,women are trying to sync two
completely different systems atonce the 28-day cycle with the
24-hour cycle.
(03:22):
We don't have to do that.
Females do, and the end resultof this is irregular periods.
Some females suffer from heavybleeding, they get worse PMS
symptoms.
Shift work definitely impactson PMS Mood swings, low energy
(03:44):
and sometimes even amenorrhea,which is the complete loss of a
period altogether.
And why does this happen?
Because the body doesn't feelsafe.
And if the body doesn't feelsafe, why would it be in a
childbearing state?
Keep that in mind.
Now.
I've coached hundreds of femaleshift workers.
I've said this and this patterncomes up over and over again.
(04:09):
And what most thought was, oh,it's just stress or it's just
part of the job, is actually thebody screaming out of sync with
its own natural rhythm.
Now let's talk about thedigestion side of things.
Let's talk about the digestionside of things.
So many women in shift workstruggle with bloating,
(04:36):
constipation, nausea or justfeeling off after meals.
Now we know that estrogen andprogesterone both impact gut
motility and how well food movesthrough the gut.
So let's add that to poor sleep, disrupted eating windows,
night shifts, caffeine reliance,which impacts on our gut, and
then often eating far too littleduring the day, and it's a
perfect storm for gut issues,because what happens?
(04:58):
Restrict, restrict all day.
I'm trying to diet because thisis how I should look, this is
how I should wear my clothes,this is everything.
And then, all of a sudden, weget to the stage where we get to
the nighttime and we're lookingfor highly palatable
carbohydrates and fats.
Now, when your gut's off youknow as well as I do your brain
is off, your mood's off and yourperformance suffers badly, and
(05:22):
the last thing you're going tobe feeling low is intimacy, and
the last thing you're going tobe feeling low is intimacy.
So it impacts greatly.
I think it's really importantthat females know more about
themselves so that they can thenunderstand why it is that they
actually feel the way that theydo.
Those are perfectly legitimatereasons.
(05:42):
If I go back into talking aboutthe digestion just for one
minute, females are biologicallydifferent internally than males
are.
It takes food on average 14hours longer to transit from
time of consumption to time ofevacuation in a female body
(06:03):
compared to a male.
Now, this is significant.
14 hours is a long time, so isit any wonder that that food
sits there and goes through andthen they end up with gas and
bloating?
The stomach in a female is lessacidic, so therefore it takes
longer to break.
It also empties slower and thecolon is longer and it evacuates
(06:28):
slower and we also have alonger digestive tract.
And I want you to think aboutwhere the female sexual organs
are compared to where the malesexual organs are.
Male sexual organs all externaldoesn't impact in any way
whatsoever.
(06:49):
Female you've got your colonwrapped basically around your
uterus in, occupying the samespace in your abdominal cavity.
Is it any wonder that, withfood that takes longer than 14
hours to transit, is it anywonder that during the luteal
phase of your infradian rhythmthat you're suffering with
(07:10):
highly agitated uterus andovaries and fallopian tubes, and
all of that with a highlyagitated bowel which is taking
longer to evacuate as well?
Hello, gas, bloating,constipation, diarrhea, all
sorts of problems, and this isliterally what happens, and
that's why a lot of women reallysuffer with this.
(07:33):
So let's now talk about fatigueas well, because women in shift
work don't just feel tired, theyfeel wiped, exhausted,
struggling to concentrate,running on fumes, and part of
this is sleep disruption, ofcourse, but there is more to it.
There are sex differences insleep architecture as well.
(07:55):
Women tend to get more slowwave sleep that deep,
restorative sleep, but they'realso more vulnerable to insomnia
and sleep fragmentation whenthe sleep timing is off.
You can't just catch up onsleep the next day and expect it
to fix everything.
And also, we've got to keepremembering that the females
(08:16):
generally are the householdrunners.
It's not being sexist, it'sliterally what it is.
The women are the ones that arethinking about what's got to be
done and how and where, and thekids and what's happening with
that.
It's natural.
This is what happens.
Now let's not forget recovery,because most women aren't just
shift workers, they're carers,they're mums, they're partners,
(08:38):
they're organisers, and the loaddoesn't end when the shift ends
, and that means less recoverytime between shifts.
Females are under more pressureand they've often got a deeper
sense of burnout as well.
And the worst part, they'realways made to feel like they're
failing, when in reality,they've just never been shown
(08:58):
how to work with their biologyin a job that literally goes
against their biology.
But here's the good news,because this can be changed and
it's about awareness and thereare strategies for females that
work.
I've helped hundreds of shiftworkers and I've got fantastic
(09:20):
feedback from them.
We don't focus on nutrition.
We focus on everything elsearound it to get everything else
right, and this helps you totake back control over your
energy, over your cycle, overyour gut health and, more
importantly for you as well,your sleep.
Now we use simple,evidence-based tools that align
(09:41):
with how women's bodies actuallywork, not the tools built for
blokes in the 70s.
That's just no good.
It's practical, it'spersonalized and it actually
works in real world 24-7 rosters.
The testimonies are on thewebsite for the females that
I've coached.
If you go to ahealthyshiftcomand go up the top and then go to
(10:04):
coaching and under testimonials, you'll see testimonials from
females that I've worked with,and majority of them will tell
you I don't work on nutritionbecause we work on everything
else sitting over the top ofthat, and nutrition takes care
of itself.
We don't realize just how muchpressure females are under and
also, every single day that wego to put a uniform on, you are
(10:27):
constantly reminded of eithergaining weight, losing weight or
whatever.
It is a massive problem andthat's why I've gone down the
line of building this.
As part of the Shiftwork seminarexperience, I now offer a
dedicated women and Shiftworkworkshop, which is an optional
(10:49):
add-on to this, and this goesdeep into how female physiology
clashes with ShiftWork and whatthere is that we can do about it
.
The impact of sleep disruptionon hormones and mood, how to
support gut health and managedigestion on and off shift, what
the research says aboutsupplements like creatine and
(11:10):
omega-3s and vitamin D,especially for female
performance, recovery and theirwell-being.
And what's an optimal way toeat, move and recover
differently.
As a female working 24-7 shifts, now I just love to stand on
stage and deliver this, and Iknow it comes from a male
(11:33):
perspective, but I've got totell you I'm incredibly
passionate about this.
I thoroughly enjoy deliveringfemale-specific workshops
because of the impact that itactually has on the female shift
working population.
Once women feel seen andunderstood and supported, the
(11:53):
difference in them is massive,and if you are a manager or a
team leader or you work in thehealth and wellbeing space and
you're listening to this podcast, you need to look after your
female shift workers more thanyou need to look.
I mean, we need to look afterboth, but there has to be
considerations for female shiftworkers.
End of rant.
(12:15):
If you're a leader, a manager,or you're someone in HR or
health and wellbeing and you arelooking better to support your
female staff, or if you are afemale shift worker who just
wants to understand your bodybetter, go into the show notes
and in there is to just clickthe seminar experience link
(12:36):
which is down there.
Now you will get access to thatlanding page.
You can read about what theseminar experience includes and
what optional add-ons thereactually are, and then you can
download the e-brochure, whichexplains absolutely everything,
and you can attach it to anapplication and put it up the
line to your health and wellnessteam.
(12:58):
This is what needs to happen.
We need to get education intoour shift working environments
because without it, no one's gota clue, and if you don't make
them aware that someone like meexists that can support you,
then we've got a big problem.
They can clue, and if you don'tmake them aware that someone
like me exists that can supportyou, then we've got a big
problem.
They can't possibly know if youdon't make them aware.
Once you've downloaded thee-brochure, I'll reach out and
(13:22):
we can chat about how I cantailor a workshop for your team,
and it's time that we stoppedexpecting women to just push
through shift work and providestrategies that suit them, not
strategies for males, or justgeneric shift working strategies
.
It doesn't work.
(13:42):
Let's support them properly.
Let's give them what they needto thrive.
Thanks for tuning into A HealthyShift.
I'll catch you, ladies and youguys, in the next one.
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
(14:02):
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 ahealthyshiftcom.
I'll catch you on the next one.
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