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Why I Loved Shift Work After 40 Years | The Benefits Nobody Talks About

Shift work gets plenty of negative attention. Poor sleep, fatigue, disrupted routines and the challenges of working outside normal hours. But after more than 40 years working shifts with Victoria Police, there were things about shift work that I absolutely LOVED.

And I reckon we don't talk about them nearly enough.

In this episode of A Healthy Shift, I'm changing the conversation and sharing the positive side of shift work that often gets overlooked.

One of the biggest benefits for me was being able to do ME before my job got whatever was left.

Working afternoon shifts meant I could get to the gym, go swimming, enjoy an early walk in the daylight, organise appointments, prepare meals and get things done before heading to work.

I'd already looked after myself, and that made me happier to turn up to work.

I also loved the freedom of having weekdays off, avoiding the weekend crowds and not having to squeeze my entire life into Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, shift work comes with genuine health challenges. We can't ignore the effects of disrupted sleep, circadian rhythms and fatigue. But recognising those risks doesn't mean we can't appreciate the benefits.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why afternoon shifts were one of my favourites.
• The freedom of getting things done before starting work.
• The benefits of having weekdays off.
• Why putting yourself first can change how you feel about going to work.
• How to make the most of your roster through sleep, daylight, movement and nutrient timing.
• Why we need more positive conversations about shift work.

Whether you're a nurse, police officer, paramedic, emergency services worker, FIFO worker or anyone working a rotating roster, permanent nights or afternoon shifts, this episode offers a different perspective on shift work life.

After four decades of working shifts, I can tell you it wasn't all doom and gloom. There were some bloody good benefits too!

Now I'd love to hear from you.

What's YOUR favourite shift to work? Days, afternoons or nights? And why?

Hit the link "Text me what you thought of the show" and let me know

And if you know another shift worker who genuinely loves their roster, share this episode with them.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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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Across the last few episodes, I’ve talked about what I believe is missing in the way many organisations support their shift-working workforce. In this episode, I want to turn that conversation around and look at what we could actually build instead.

What does a shift-work-capable organisation look like?

For me, it isn’t an organisation where nobody gets tired, nobody struggles with nights, and we somehow remove the biological challenges of working around the clock. That isn’t realistic.

It’s an organisation where people are given more than a roster. They’re given the education to understand what that roster is asking of their biology and practical strategies to help them manage it.

In this episode, I explore what that could look like from the moment someone joins a 24/7 workforce: shift-work-specific education, advice that reflects the reality of their actual roster, leaders who understand the demands their people are facing, and credible knowledge that remains available where the shift work actually happens — including at 3 am.

I also discuss the role of developing people from within the workforce who understand the roster, workplace and culture because they live it themselves. Not as clinicians or workplace health experts, but as educated Shift Work Champions™ who can help keep good conversations and credible information alive while understanding the boundaries of their role.

Importantly, building capability isn’t something an organisation does once and considers finished. It means continuing to listen to the workforce, learn what’s working, identify what isn’t, and review, refine and expand the approach over time.

My vision is simple: I want us to reach a point where handing someone their first shift-work roster without also teaching them how to manage it seems completely outdated.

We may never remove the challenges of shift work, but I believe we can become much better at preparing and supporting the people we ask to do it.

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and download the updated Executive Brief using the link below.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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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Bringing someone into your organisation to educate your shift-working workforce can be incredibly valuable. I’ve seen firsthand what happens when people finally understand why they’re struggling with sleep, fatigue, light exposure, caffeine, eating overnight and recovery around their roster.

But there’s another question I think organisations need to ask:

What happens after the seminar?

In this episode, I explore the difference between creating awareness and building genuine internal shift work capability.

A great education session can change the way people think, challenge some of the myths that have existed around shift work for decades and give workers practical strategies they can start using immediately. But people return to work, rosters continue, new employees arrive, managers change and, over time, that initial awareness can fade.

That doesn’t mean the education failed. It means education needs somewhere to go.

I discuss why workforce education should be viewed as the beginning rather than the entire solution, why practical application around the actual roster matters, and how developing the right people from within the workforce can help credible shift work knowledge remain accessible long after the external educator has left.

Because one of the principles that sits at the heart of Shift Work Champions™ is:

If the knowledge leaves the room with the educator, you only rented it.

The real opportunity is to move from delivering education to building capability — something that can be reinforced, reviewed, refined and sustained from within the organisation.

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and download the updated Executive Brief using the link below.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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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Who actually owns shift worker health inside a 24/7 organisation?

Is it Health and Wellbeing? Safety? HR or People and Culture? Operations? Leadership? Or does responsibility ultimately sit with the individual shift worker?

In this episode, I explore why I think that question is so important — and why the answer often isn’t as clear as organisations might expect.

Shift work doesn’t fit neatly into one department. Fatigue might become a safety issue. Unplanned absence becomes an operational issue. Overtime and backfill have a financial impact. Someone struggling with their health may need wellbeing support, while someone eventually leaving the roster becomes a retention and recruitment issue.

The consequences can appear across the organisation, while the person experiencing all of it is standing there at 3 am trying to get through their shift.

I believe shift workers absolutely have personal responsibility for their own health and behaviours. But I also believe we can’t expect people to manage what they’ve never been taught to understand.

That’s why I think organisations need to look beyond who “owns” shift worker health and ask a slightly different question: who owns the responsibility for building shift work capability?

I discuss what proactive shift work education could look like, why credible knowledge needs to exist where the shift work actually happens, and the opportunity to develop people from within the workforce who understand the roster, workplace and culture because they live it themselves.

This isn’t about replacing leaders, health professionals, fatigue systems or existing workplace support. It’s about building an additional layer of sustainable shift work capability from within.

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and download the updated Executive Brief using the link below.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

We’re very good at teaching people how to do their job. But are we teaching them how to manage their life around when we’re asking them to do that job?

In this episode, I explore what I believe is one of the biggest capability gaps inside 24/7 organisations: we give people a roster, train them in policies, procedures, systems and safety, and then largely leave them to work out the biological demands of shift work for themselves.

I spent more than 40 years working 24/7 shifts, and I know exactly what that can look like. You learn through trial and error, copy what the people around you are doing and gradually develop your own way of surviving nights. But with what we now understand about circadian biology, sleep, light exposure, caffeine, movement and nutrient timing, I believe we can do much better than simply expecting people to “work it out”.

I also discuss why having a fatigue management policy isn’t the same as teaching someone how to manage fatigue, and why generic health and wellbeing advice often fails to account for the realities of a shift-working life.

Most importantly, I look at what happens after that initial education. A great seminar can create awareness and start important conversations, but if we want that knowledge to remain within the organisation, we need to think beyond the room and begin building genuine internal shift work capability.

Because giving someone a roster tells them when to work. It doesn’t teach them how to shift work.

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and download the updated Executive Brief using the link below.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

This morning I joined Tony McManus on Australia Overnight for a conversation that went somewhere I think we need to go more often.

What is shift work like for the people waiting at home?

The conversation started with a powerful email from the wife of a retired police officer who had worked shifts for more than 42.5 years. She spoke about lying awake waiting to hear his car pull into the driveway, the impact his shifts had on their daughter, and how some of those effects have remained even after his retirement.

It really struck a chord with me.

For more than 40 years, I was the shift worker. But my family lived that roster too.

Tony and I talked about the impact shift work can have on partners and children, the anxiety of waiting for someone to get home safely, and the way working nights can disconnect you from normal family life.

We also heard from listeners across nursing, ambulance, policing and transport who shared their own experiences.

And that led us into a much bigger discussion.

We train people extensively to do their jobs. We teach them the equipment, policies, procedures and safety requirements.

Then we hand them a roster requiring them to work against their biology, often without properly teaching them how to manage it.

How to sleep. How to manage light. When to eat. How to move. How to manage fatigue. And how to build some sort of normal life around an abnormal working schedule.

After more than 40 years of frontline shift work, this is the gap I am now trying to change.

This was a great conversation about shift work, fatigue, family life and why we need to do much more to support the people who keep Australia running around the clock.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

What does it cost an organisation to educate its shift-working workforce?

That's an easy number to see. It appears on a proposal, gets allocated to a budget and requires someone to approve it.

But there's another number that's much harder to see: what does it cost NOT to educate your shift workers?

In this episode, I explore the hidden organisational cost of leaving employees to navigate the biological demands of shift work largely through trial and error.

From fatigue and presenteeism to unplanned absence, overtime, backfill, retention, operational performance and workforce risk, the cost doesn't necessarily disappear because an organisation chooses not to invest in education. It may simply show up somewhere else.

I also explain why workforce education should be the beginning rather than the end — and why A Healthy Shift developed the Shift Work Champions™ Enterprise Framework to help organisations build sustainable internal shift work capability.

Learn more about Shift Work Champions™ and download the updated Executive Brief using the link below.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

Can You Actually Adapt to Night Shift?

“I’ve been doing night shift for years. My body is used to it.”

But does feeling comfortable working nights mean your biology has actually adapted?

In this episode, I explore the important difference between becoming experienced at working night shift and true circadian adaptation. He explains why our internal body clock doesn’t automatically adjust to a roster, why daylight and days off can make complete adaptation difficult, and why even permanent night workers may still experience circadian disruption.

The goal isn’t to fear night shift or believe there’s nothing you can do. It’s to better understand your biology so you can make more informed decisions around sleep, light exposure, movement, nutrient timing and recovery.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

The First Day Off After Night Shift — What Should You Actually Do?

You’ve finished your final night shift and now you need to transition back to days. So, what’s the best way to approach that first day off?

In this episode, I explain why the sleep after your final night shift may need to serve a different purpose from the sleep between consecutive nights. He explores recovery sleep, daylight, movement and meal timing, and how each can help support the transition back towards a daytime routine.

Most importantly, this isn’t about following a perfect formula. It’s about understanding what you’re trying to achieve, prioritising safety and recovery, and finding a strategy that works with your roster and your life.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

Nobody Taught You How to Work Shifts — And That’s the Problem

Shift workers are trained to do their jobs, but how many are actually taught how to work shifts?

In this episode, I explore one of the biggest gaps in 24/7 workplaces: understanding the biological reality of working when the body expects to sleep and trying to recover when the rest of the world is awake.

Drawing on more than 40 years of frontline shift work, I discuss why generic health advice often fails shift workers, the importance of understanding sleep, daylight, movement and nutrient timing, and why different rosters require different strategies.

Because good shift work education shouldn’t just give people rules. It should help them understand why, so they can make better decisions around the roster and life they actually live.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

Night shift doesn’t only disrupt when you sleep. It can completely change when you eat.

One day you’re eating dinner at six in the evening. The next, you’re having a main meal at two in the morning, eating breakfast after work and then trying to return to daytime meals on your days off.

Researchers call this “eating jet lag”: the difference between the timing of your eating window on workdays and days off.

In this episode, I examine a new study involving more than 104,000 adults. Among the male participants, each additional hour of eating jet lag was associated with a 14% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a 21% higher risk of coronary heart disease. No significant association was detected among women.

This was an observational study and it was not conducted specifically in shift workers, so it cannot prove that changing meal times causes cardiovascular disease. But it raises an important question for anyone whose roster repeatedly shifts their eating across the day and night.

I also discuss a 2025 randomised laboratory trial examining daytime-only eating during simulated night work. The study found that people who ate across the day and night experienced changes in several cardiovascular risk markers. These changes were not seen in the daytime-eating group.

The trial was small and involved healthy people who were not actual shift workers. It does not prove that every night worker should fast throughout their shift. However, it adds controlled evidence that meal timing can influence how the cardiovascular system responds to circadian disruption.

In this episode, I cover:

• What eating jet lag means
• Why shift workers may experience large changes in meal timing
• How food helps regulate clocks throughout the body
• What the latest cardiovascular research found
• The important limitations of both studies
• Why overnight grazing can extend your eating window
• How to create more consistent meal-timing anchors
• Why workplaces share responsibility for supporting healthier eating patterns

The aim is not to create a perfect eating schedule. It is to understand your current pattern and reduce unnecessary changes where your roster and personal circumstances allow.

Start by recording the times of your first and last calories across several shifts and days off. That includes meals, snacks, energy drinks, soft drinks and milk or sugar added to coffee.

Your roster may force you to work against your biological clock. But with some planning, it does not have to control every part of when you eat as well.

If this episode helps, share it with a colleague who works nights.

Learn more about evidence-based shift work education, coaching and workplace programs at A Healthy Shift.

Scientific references

1. Le Folcalvez, X., Obeid, E., Palomar-Cros, A., et al. (2026). Eating jetlag based on meal timing discrepancies and risk of cardiovascular disease using the prospective cohort NutriNet-Santé. Communications Medicine, 6, 453.
2. Chellappa, S. L., Gao, L., Qian, J., et al. (2025). Daytime eating during simulated night work mitigates changes in cardiovascular risk factors: Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial. Nature Communications, 16, 3186.

Support the show

----------------------------

Roger Sutherland is Australia's Night Shift & Sleep Specialist and the founder of A Healthy Shift.

After more than 40 years working rotating shifts with Victoria Police, Roger now helps organisations reduce fatigue risk, improve staff wellbeing and build healthier, safer and higher-performing 24/7 workplaces through evidence-based education, circadian biology and the Shift Work Champions™ Framework.

Shift Work Champions™: https://join.ahealthyshift.com/shift-work-capability

Website: https://ahealthyshift.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-sutherland

Instagram: @a_healthy_shift

___________________

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.

_______________________