Hi there and welcome!
My name is Audra Starkey, AKA The Healthy Shift Worker, and I am super passionate about helping shift workers and organisations improve their health and wellbeing.
A quick background about me:
After 21 years of working in the aviation industry, in October 2014 I took a leap of faith and accepted a voluntary redundancy from Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, to pursue my interest in nutrition, with a special focus on shift work health.
This is because when we work shift work, our diet is often the first thing to fall apart, which over the long-term, can have serious consequences on our health.
It led me to enrol in a Bachelor of Health Science degree majoring in Nutritional Medicine from Endeavour College of Natural Health in Brisbane, which I completed at the end of 2016.
I do want to make mention, however, that I have a very holistic view on health.
This is because when it comes to working through the night, or getting up at ridiculous times of the day, sleep-deprivation is usually the catalyst behind a lot of our struggles – and not just the food that we eat.
Do I believe nutrition is important? Absolutely.
In fact it’s even more important when working 24/7.
Do I believe it’s the answer to all of our shift working woes? Absolutely not.
As a population, we are chronically sleep-deprived, and with that comes serious consequences.
Sleep deprivation affects our:
- nutritional intake, digestion and absorption of foods
- it disrupts our hormones
- it impairs our cognitive function
- it weakens our immune system
- it affects our mood
- it makes us prone to accidents
- it makes us feel way too tired to get off the couch and exercise, and
- it certainly plays havoc on our family and social life – amongst many other things.
It’s what ultimately led me to publish my book titled ‘Too Tired To Cook – The Shift Worker’s Guide To Working (And Surviving) In A 24/7 World‘ in August 2019.
So if you are new to my website – ‘welcome’.
Feel free to click on the links below or reach out via the contact button if you’d like to get in touch via email.
Audra x
