Shift work stress is without a doubt, rife amongst shift workers throughout the world. But when you add job loss or the possibility of job loss into the equation, then it’s an entirely different ball game.

Now as an employee of Qantas, Australia’s national airline, I certainly became exposed to this type of uncertainty when our CEO decided to ground the entire fleet of aircraft due to ongoing industrial action.

And it goes without saying that it left all employees speechless – not to mentioned stressed and anxious about what was unfolding behind the scenes.

And having gone through a similar roller-coaster ride some 10 years ago when I lost my job with Austalia’s other airline, Ansett Australia, when it too became grounded but this time permanently, it would be fair to see that I am suitably “qualified” to know what job loss is all about, not to mention the stress that goes along with it.

You see apart from the death of a spouse or relative, job insecurity is regarded as one of the largest causes of stress. And given the uncertainty surrounding the recent grounding of the Qantas fleet, (and the somewhat stress and anxiety placed upon staff and customers alike) – I have to say that I felt the following quote was appropriate to share amongst my fellow shift working colleagues.

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” ~ Glenn Turner.

Of course this quote applies to all aspects of our lives.

And I’m not going to deny stress – in particular shift work stress is nothing to be concerned about.

It most certainly is.

In fact any type of stress can cause damage to our overall health and well-being – both physically and mentally.

But having been through the whole job loss saga before, don’t let shift work stress (or any type of stress for that matter) – define your life.

Even though I would not wish this upon anyone, if you do end up losing your job for some reason, sometimes it can end up being the best thing that ever happens to you as you are forced to do something completely different with your life.

As Alexander Graham Bell once said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

So just remember that every closed door (in this case a loss of a job), might end up being the catalyst towards an entirely different change in career for you. In fact it may end up being one which is more enjoyable and satisfying than the one that you’re in right now.

And that of course, is always going to be a good thing.

A disruptive lifestyle can often lead shift workers on a constant cycle of eating all of the wrong foods at all of the wrong times of the day.

But if you can’t change the hours that you work – what sort of foods are really healthy for shift workers to eat?

Would you believe food that contains few ingredients?

Confused? Well let me explain.

Thanks to the Weight Loss Industry we’ve become so obsessed about reading the Nutritional Facts on food labels that we’ve forgotten to look closer at the other part of the label – the list of ingredients.

Let’s take a look at the example above.

This label breaks down how much fat, cholesterol, sodium (salt), carbohydrate and sugar is inside the product which is great – but do you recognise any of the ingredients?!

Not really familiar are they.

The sad thing is that we’re so engrossed in reading the nutrition labels on food today; we don’t really look at the actual food content.

In fact so many people will even select their food off a supermarket shelf based on the vitamin and mineral content even if the food does not resemble real food. Protein bars, breakfast cereals, margarine and diet foods are a prime example. These foods may look good in the nutrient content, but when you look at the actual ingredients, you find that there are a bunch of numbers, hydrogenated vegetables oils and a lot of other non-real food items.

So if you’re searching for the healthiest food for shift workers then just keep things simple. Choose food that is as close to how Mother Nature designed it.

I very rarely check the ingredients on food that I buy because I hardly ever eat food that has an ingredient list on it! For example, a piece of fruit doesn’t come with a food label. What you see is what you get – there are no hidden ingredients.

So stop worrying about how many grams of this and that is contained in something – spend more time focussing on what it actually is that you’re eating.

For shift workers who rely heavily on packaged and processed food for “sustenance” – eating this type of food on a long-term basis is certainly not good for your health.

So the next time you head off to the supermarket to do your grocery shopping – spend more time in the fruit and vegetable aisle as opposed to those which contain lots of boxes, jars and packets of food.

At the end of the day nothing can replace a real piece of fruit or vegetable – anything else is a cheap imitation and always will be!