When getting vitamin D levels tested, many shift workers show up as being ‘deficient’.
In other words, they fall short of fitting within what’s deemed to be the healthy range.
However serum vitamin D, is simply a proxy marker for sun exposure.
Clinical trials have found vitamin D supplementation provides little to any meaningful health benefits.
It’s the sunlight, along with it’s related factors, which are responsible for the beneficial effect on human health.
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There are a myriad of reasons that can contribute to fatigue.
Some of which include low iron and an under-active thyroid.
However, before spending a fortune 💰 on exhaustive testing, have you considered the real reason for your fatigue?
As in – could it be because you’re just trying to juggle “life”, whilst being a full-time shift worker?
I’m mentioning this because I had a client reach out to me after a 3am early shift (yup, that’s not a typo… ⏰️😳😵💫), whilst juggling full-time shift work AND being a mum to 3 young children.
Long story cut short, she was running on about 3-4 hours sleep EVERY night.
I could have run some tests and prescribed some pills, but that wouldn’t have addressed the root cause of her fatigue.
All it would have done is artificially suppress her body’s overwhelming feeling’s of fatigue, and possibly delay the onset of a chronic disease later in life.
So my question to you is this.
Have you created a life that doesn’t allow your body sufficient time to rest and sleep?
Because no amount of pills can fix a lifestyle that not only involves burning the candle at both ends… but sets fire 🔥 to the bit in the middle as well.
Just something to ponder if your health care practitioner is quick to “diagnose and prescribe”, without taking into consideration your lifestyle first.
Audra x
Gut issues are prevalent in many who work 24/7 due to a myriad of reasons including dehydration, insufficient dietary fibre and especially … mistimed eating.
Mistimed eating is when we eat out of sync to our natural sleep/wake cycle.
If causes gut issues because the stomach, along with all of the ancillary organs involved in digestion such as the liver, kidneys, gall bladder, small and large intestine, do not break down and process foods at night in the same capacity as they do during daylight hours.
And when do most shift workers eat?
All over the place!
Anywhere from 8am, 3pm, 10pm, 2am, 4am … whenever they have a designated break or find the time to squeeze one in if they’re super busy and under the pump.
No doubt you can relate :-).
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Have you been told health practitioners to “flip your meals” when working the night shift?
As in have a big meal around midnight?
I remember having to bite my tongue when one of my lecturers at University recommended to do this because instinctively I knew this was not the right thing to do.
And that’s waaaaaaaayyyyyy before I spent years diving down the rabbit hole learning all about chronobiology and circadian nutrition.
Why is it an issue?
Well, when we do this, it confuses the clocks in our gut, liver and kidneys that its daytime.
This can lead to gut pain, bloating, constipation, nausea, acid reflux and a whole host of other fun things that we’d much rather avoid!
It’s no wonder so many shift workers are prone to gut and digestive complaints, that actually have nothing to do with allergies or food intolerances.We need to get back to the basics.
Eat your main meal no later than 9pm (preferably earlier if you can), as this will help to minimise further disruption to your biological clock.
At the end of the day, just because we’re awake on shift during the night, doesn’t mean we’re supposed to eat.
Audra x
P.S: Want to learn more about this topic?
Check out my ‘21-Day Healthy Shift Worker Kickstart Program’ by CLICKING HERE.
Do you eat when you’re not hungry?
OR… Have you been on every diet under the sun, but are still struggling to lose weight?!!
Because when we actually take time out from eating (call it fasting, or just not eating continually which is what most people have become accustomed to doing these days) – it initiates hormonal changes that make stored fat more accessible.
It essentially helps the body to break down surplus fat, leading to weight loss.
This occurs as the body uses fuel in the following order:
So when blood sugar and insulin is low, it enables fat burning to occur.
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