Shift Work

Welcome to the podcast about how to use reason and science to live a long, healthy, decent life.

Subscribe to join the host, Greg Potter, as he unveils the latest science and the secrets of some of the most brilliant people, including scientists, coaches, entrepreneurs, and many others.

You can also find the Reason & Wellbeing on YouTube here.

People and resources featured in this episode:

Debra Skene, PhD. Find out more about Debra here. Follow Debra on Twitter (“X”) here.

Greg Potter, PhD. Follow Greg on Instagram here.

Journal article: Recommendations for daytime, evening, and nighttime indoor light exposure to best support physiology, sleep, and wakefulness in healthy adults.

Journal article: Meal timing regulates the human circadian system.

Website: ConsumerLab.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The podcast does not constitute the practice of medicine or any other professional healthcare service. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is exclusively at the listener’s own risk. The contents of this podcast are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Listeners should not wait to obtain or disregard medical advice for any medical conditions they have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for such conditions. Under no circumstances shall Greg Potter, Greg Potter PhD Limited, or any guests or contributors to the podcast be responsible for damages arising from the use of the contents of this podcast.

Welcome to the podcast about how to use reason and science to live a long, healthy, decent life.

Subscribe to join the host, Greg Potter, as he unveils the latest science and the secrets of some of the most brilliant people, including scientists, coaches, entrepreneurs, and many others.

You can also find the Reason & Wellbeing on YouTube here.

People and resources featured in this episode:

Debra Skene, PhD. Find out more about Debra here. Follow Debra on Twitter (“X”) here.

Greg Potter, PhD. Follow Greg on Instagram here.

Journal article: Circadian rhythm and sleep disruption: causes, metabolic consequences, and countermeasures

Journal article: Separation of circadian- and behavior-driven metabolite rhythms in humans provides a window on peripheral oscillators and metabolism

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The podcast does not constitute the practice of medicine or any other professional healthcare service. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is exclusively at the listener’s own risk. The contents of this podcast are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Listeners should not wait to obtain or disregard medical advice for any medical conditions they have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for such conditions. Under no circumstances shall Greg Potter, Greg Potter PhD Limited, or any guests or contributors to the podcast be responsible for damages arising from the use of the contents of this podcast.

Welcome to the brand-new podcast about how to use reason and science to live a long, healthy, decent life.

Subscribe to join the host, Greg Potter, as he unveils the latest science and the secrets of some of the most brilliant people, including scientists, coaches, entrepreneurs, and many others.

You can also find the Reason & Wellbeing on YouTube here.

People and resources featured in this episode:

Greg Potter, PhD. Follow Greg on Instagram here.

Caffeine contents of common foods and drinks: Caffeine Informer.

Alcohol unit calculators: Alcohol Change, Drink Aware.

Product: Wilfa Svart coffee grinder.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The podcast does not constitute the practice of medicine or any other professional healthcare service. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast is exclusively at the listener’s own risk. The contents of this podcast are not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Listeners should not wait to obtain or disregard medical advice for any medical conditions they have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for such conditions. Under no circumstances shall Greg Potter, Greg Potter PhD Limited, or any guests or contributors to the podcast be responsible for damages arising from the use of the contents of this podcast.

The assault on our sleep really only began in earnest 75 years ago as the world became flooded with light, stimuli, shift work, and birthed the concept of a 24/7 world. Today, we're wired and tired, overworked and under rested. This is not news to you, but what might be

When we think of high-risk jobs, we often think of underwater welders, fishing boat crew, and oil rig workers. But did you know that all shift work is also high risk? You're unlikely to have physical risks, but the metabolic, mental health, impaired driving ability, and even cancer risks are sky high. 

Here's what happens when we don't sleep: 

• Ghrelin, the hunger hormone goes up
• Blood glucose and metabolic health suffers 
• Cardiovascular risk shoots way up
• Risk of neurodegenerative illness skyrockets 

Links

Russell’s Book

ABOUT RUSSELL FOSTER - Russell Foster is a British professor of circadian neuroscience at Oxford University and the director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi). He is known for his discovery of non-rod, non-cone ocular photoreceptors that regulate the body’s internal clock. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the Zoological Society scientific medal and the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire). He is the author of Time Line: Your Body Clock and Its Essential Roles in Good Health and Sleep. 

Today's episode is PART ONE of a shift worker focus. This is for the nurses, the paramedics, the janitors and cleaning staff, and those of us who work a job that has changing hours. 

On today's episode I'm breaking down the environment and the data around Burnout & Shiftwork, why the environment can make or break burnout risk for shift workers, and why being on night shift alone isn't enough to lead to full fledged burnout. 

Does it put you at risk? Yes. Is it the deciding factor? No. 

Turns out, according to the data that I've pulled, night shifts predispose you to emotional exhaustion - only one of the three factors of burnout! But the depersonalization and the lack of personal achievement or progression that rounds out the burnout triad aren't necessarily caused by the night shift alone. Howveer, if you experience all three of those things, night shift is going to seriously affect you. 

So, today on the podcast, I'm talking about environmental factors that lead to emotional exhaustion, and how you can start to shape your environment to protect against the depersonalization and lack of personal achievement. It's a wordy podcast (hello 40 minutes!) but I really couldn't figure out how to make this one shorter. 

There are two more podcasts that will be following this as I work to support our shift workers health - one on cardiovascular risk protection and another on how shift work affects women (and our hormones) in particular. 

I hope you enjoy this episode, and I'll see you next week! 

Research: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519910/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8994941/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31791964/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36539975/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35431686/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9621389/

Let's Be Friends!

Full Shownotes
Get On The Clinic Waitlist 
Subscribe to The Superwoman Code Email List
Follow @drashleymargeson on Instagram

A Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc Production

If our internal body clock is telling us it's 3am, but the external environment is telling us it's 12 noon, that's called jet lag. It's a mis-match between what's going on inside our bodies and what's happening outside. Those who have travelled abroad - particularly to somewhere in a significantly different time zone - will be familiar with the feeling, but it's not just stepping off a plane that can cause it. 'Social jet lag' is a particular problem for shift workers, for example. An out-of-sync body clock can make us feel terrible, so, is there a cure for the condition on the horizon? We speak to neuroscientist Prof Aarti Jagannath from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences about her work investigating potential drug treatments for jet lag.

Have you listened to Part 1 yet? No? Go on, git. Here's a link to it! Go do that. 

Now if you have, this Part 2 is a bonanza of problem solving from neurologist and somnologist Dr. W. Chris Winter. He'll cover: if you should be taking sleep supplements or pills, sleep talking, apnea, why sleepiness makes us hungry, narcolepsy, the difference between insomnia and sleep deprivation, how to lucid dream, the dangers of shift work and some tactics to lull yourself to dreamland without any medications. ALSO: I share a family secret: my mom's insomnia buster -- newly dubbed the "Sleepy Fancy Nancy" -- that has literally never failed me.

And I am currently spending time with my family after my dad’s emergency brain surgery a few weeks back, but put a few extra notes and updates on how we’re doing. Thanks for all the thoughts, friends. 

Dr. W. Chris Winter's sleep clinic

Dr. W. Chris Winter's book, The Sleep Solution plus his 2021 release The Rested Child

Follow twitter.com/sportsleepdoc

You may also enjoy the Hematology (BLOOD) and Chronobiology (CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS) episodes

A donation went to Myeloma.org

Sponsors of Ologies

Transcripts and bleeped episodes

Smologies (short, classroom-safe) episodes

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, masks, totes!

Follow @Ologies on Twitter and Instagram

Follow @AlieWard on Twitter and Instagram

Sound editing by Steven Ray Morris and Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media

Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer

Theme song by Nick Thorburn

Finding Purpose
In many countries, human activities are organized around the seasons, or where seasons are more continuous, around periods of wet and dry or light and dark. Work which incorporates the rhythm of nature and an understanding of life is healthy and soul-enhancing. 

Shift Work Needs to Shift
Working on 12-hour shifts and varying often between day and night shifts with no adjustment time neglects the body’s natural rhythms. Shift workers live an average of six years less than non-shift workers and have more health problems. Those who are not shift workers but manage or own businesses also work very long workdays or weeks together. Wages have not increased to keep pace with inflation, and everyone works longer hours for less pay. 

The Cult of Overwork
In the increased anxiety around keeping businesses profitable, making enough wages to earn to support your life and avoid cashflow issues, work addiction has become the norm. We must ask ourselves if we are engaging in soul-promoting or soul-destroying activity through this unhealthy focus on continuous work with no attention to cycles or development. We must ask ourselves what void this social reality of work addiction is attempting to fill. 

Learning from Nature
In the natural world too, there are periods of intense toil and sacrifice to mate, give birth and raise the young. However, this sacrifice has a cycle, a rhythm and a purpose. Sacrifice and toil towards a positive end and a life-enhancing purpose allows us to live in harmony with the natural changes of seasons and the processes of birth to death. If the sacrifices inherent in work have purpose, and a positive result, then periods of overwork help to develop stamina rather than to promote addiction. 

Rest and Reflect

• What do you think about this idea? How would your work be different if it respected natural cycles and seasons of people and the planet? 
• What are the indicators of work addiction or sacrifice in your life?
• What could nature teach us about rewiring ourselves for healthy work instead of addictive work? 
• At work, what is the role of sacrifice and purpose within a context of naturally unfolding cycles and seasons? 

This is the second part of a trilogy of podcasts taken from the beginning of a book I’m writing called The Spirit of Work.

You can comment on this or any of my podcast episodes in our Work and Culture twitter account or by sending an email to marie@shiftworkplace.com. You can also leave a voice message in my Skype account AMGEDUC. Or, if these musings inspire you to work with me, I would be most interested in hearing from you. We can chat and see what might be beneficial to both of us!