Tag Archives: hormone disruption

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Does Your Job Involve Sitting Inside All Day?

Does your job involve sitting inside all day (and maybe night?) Have you spent years on a weight gain-weight-loss-weight-gain roller coaster?

Could lack of sunlight be a contributing factor? My simple answer to that is “yes, most definitely”.

Without sufficient vitamin D, AKA vitamin “daylight”, your body thinks you are hibernating.

It thinks winter is coming.

So what does it instinctively do as a response?

It slows down the metabolism, encouraging you to eat more, and store lots of fat to help you to “see through the winter”.

Even when it’s not winter!

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HSW 74 – BAREbyBauer Natural Skincare with Candice and Matt Bauer

Have you thought about what you’re putting on your skin, and how it may be affecting your health?  Given our skin is the largest organ in the body, and has the ability to absorb anything that it’s exposed to, choosing products which contain natural ingredients can be a huge step towards improving our overall health and wellbeing.

In today’s episode, we’re talking with Candice and Matt Bauer, who the founders of BAREbyBauer, an Australian based natural body and skincare company located in Bundaberg, Queensland.  Both Candice and Matt are incredibly passionate about leading a chemical free, low toxic lifestyle, so much so, that they decided to develop their own range of body and skincare products using only real ingredients – as you do!

Developed to support the body’s innate healing abilities, BAREByBauer is fast becoming one of Australia’s most popular Australian made and owned body and skin care companies, that are now shipping worldwide.

In this episode, you’re going to learn:

  • How chemicals can wreak havoc on our hormones along with being toxic to the brain and nervous system.
  • Two chemicals found in many every day skin care products, that are known to have negative side-effects including hormone disruption with links to interference with gene expression, birth defects, reproductive issues, ashtma, ADHD, obesity to name a few.
  • How to read ingredients labels to help reduce your exposure to these chemicals
  • Why you need to take a closer look at the ingredients in your deodorant
  • Why “less is more” when it comes to buying skincare products

Links mentioned on the podcast:

Environmental Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep website – https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Robert Tisserand, world leading expert in aromatherapy –  https://roberttisserand.com

BAREbyBauer website – https://www.barebybauer.com.au
BAREbyBauer Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BAREbyBauer/
BAREbyBauer Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/barebybauer/?hl=en

Special Promotion – 15% discount off at BAREbyBauer.com.au, excludes skin food range, value packs and gift vouchers. Offer valid until 31st March 2019.  Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer.

Discount Code – HEALTHYSHIFTWORKER15

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Night Shift and Hormone Disruption:

What exactly happens to our hormones when we work 24/7?

I think we can all agree that night shift is pretty tough, actually let’s not sugar coat it, it’s incredibly tough.

Considering human beings, or more specifically shift workers, are the only creatures on the planet to completely disobey their biological clocks, it’s no wonder we struggle to function at 2am in the morning.

In fact, night shift feels a bit like driving around on a flat battery.

And no matter how many times we try to recharge this depleted battery, we still wake up feeling like we’ve just gone through the spin cycle of the washing machine – set on high!

We also tend to LOOK like we’ve just been through the spin cycle when we take that first glance in the mirror post night shift too {insert sad face here}.

But why is this so?  What exactly is happening when we stay up through the night?

Well one thing is for certain (which has been proven in countless clinical trials), is that it causes havoc on our hormones.

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Who Is ‘The Healthy Shift Worker’?

The Real Person Behind This Website!

Mini computer
Hi Everyone,

I’ve noticed quite a few new followers join the page over the last few weeks so I thought I’d step out from behind the ‘back office’ of this website, and introduce myself, along with sharing a little about me and why I’ve created The Healthy Shift Worker.  One of my goals for 2016 was also to “humanize” this site, and by that I mean let people know that yes, there is a ‘real person’ behind this website, who comes with her own story as to why she established this blog, way back on the 8th of February 2009, when I wrote my first blog post.

My name is Audra, and I’m a mad traveler, a huge fan of tennis (or should I say a fan of Roger Federer), a lover of the natural environment and all furry critters.  I love bush walking, yoga, “brunching” with my girlfriends, and immersing my toes in the sand with longs walk along with beach.  Fortunately this is pretty easy to do as I live in sunny Queensland Australia, with my husband and furry child – ‘Misty’ the cat.  I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to have visited 22 countries throughout my 44 years on this earth, however my longing to travel and visit new places has been placed on hold the last 18 months or so, as I made the transition from working full-time, to becoming a full-time University student.

After 21 years of working in the aviation industry, in October 2014 I decided to take a leap of faith and accept a voluntary redundancy from Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, to pursue my interest in nutrition, with a special focus on shift work health.  I think you can all agree 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.  So I’m currently studying a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Nutritional Medicine at Endeavour College of Natural Health in Brisbane, and am about to embark in my final year of this degree.

I’m also writing a book (specifically for shift workers) which is taking me way longer than I thought, but that’s OK, because I want to write something that is not only filled with great content, but is enjoyable to read too.

My special interest in shift work health stemmed from my own personal struggles of working shift work for nearly two decades.  Like anyone who has ever worked shift work before, you can appreciate just how hard it is on our physical, mental and emotional well-being.

But whilst I may be studying nutritional medicine, this page and blog is not all about nutrition.

I have a very holistic view on health, in particular when it comes to those who work through the night, and get up at ridiculous times of the day because sleep-deprivation can be the catalyst behind a lot of our struggles – and not just on 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.

Not the rosiest of pictures, but it’s the harsh reality of the situation, and comes with the territory when working 24/7.

However in the next couple of days, you’re going to see the beginnings of a project I’ve been working on over the last few months, because I want to engage with you more, as opposed to just writing on my Facebook page, or via this blog.  Quite simply, I want to help you as much as I can, and let you know that you’re not alone in this incredibly tough way of life that we’ve come to know as ‘shift work’.   In order for me to do this, I’ve had to enlist the help of others, whom you will be hearing from very soon.

So ‘welcome’ to all the newbies who have recently joined my page, and a big “hello” to all of my loyal followers who have been with me over the long term and have stuck with me through all my posts over the years – both the good and bad!

Look forward to “speaking” with you soon,

Big shift working hugs,

Audra x