Tag Archives: sleep quality

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HSW 73 – Adopting a Better Sleep Mindset with Constable Tracey Rogers

Sleep.  It can be so elusive when we work shift work, but is it really possible to get better sleep whilst working 24/7?  According to First Class Constable Tracey Rogers it absolutely is, but it all comes back to adopting a ‘Better Sleep Mindset”, and being prepared to do whatever it takes to foster and encourage better sleep.

Tracey Rogers is a First Class Constable with the Tasmanian Police Force, who has worked a combination of shift work and day roles throughout her 15-year career in the Police Force.  Understandably, her job can be pretty stressful at times, so being able to unwind and get sufficient quality sleep has become a huge priority and focus for improving her health and well-being.

In this episode you’re going to learn:

  • why having an outside interest is absolutely vital in being able to ‘switch off’ from a stressful job and shift
  • what Tracey did to conquer her ‘hate relationship with sleep’
  • how she overcame self-sabotaging sleep behaviours, that were having a huge impact on her sleep
  • why in order to get better sleep, we must be willing to try new things
  • Tracey’s top 3 strategies to becoming a healthy shift worker

Links mentioned on the podcast:

To get in contact with Tracey – reach out to her through Facebook / Messenger at Tracey Lee

For more information on Audra’s Better Sleep Program, you can book a Free Better Sleep Strategy Session by Clicking Here

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HSW 51 – Sympathetic Dominance with Dr Wayne Todd.

Healthy Shift Worker Podcast:

Over the past 2 years or so of recording podcast episodes, I’ve occasionally mentioned the words ‘sympathetic dominance’, as it’s a condition that I quite often see in many of my patients who work 24/7, in particular those who struggle to get good quality sleep.

Otherwise known as the ‘fight or flight’ arm of our autonomic nervous system, sympathetic dominance is when our bodies become ‘stuck’ in this fight or flight stress response for long durations at a time.

Unfortunately for shift workers, ongoing sleep deprivation actually makes us quite prone to this overactive stimulation of our nervous system which can lead to a whole host of chronic health complaints from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and weight gain, along with the suppression of our reproductive and immune system.  In addition, it becomes a bit of a Catch-22, in that sympathetic dominance actually switches off our parasympathetic nervous system, which plays a fundamentally important role in our ability to rest and sleep.

To discuss this topic in greater detail, I’ve brought in Dr Wayne Todd who is a chiropractor based in Sale, Victoria, who has written an entire book on sympathetic dominance titled ‘SD Protocol – Achieve greater health by learning to balance your physical, chemical and emotional wellbeing‘.

Tune in to hear Dr Todd go into some of the physical, chemical and emotional causes behind sympathetic dominance, and what we can do as shift workers to help dampen down this stress response.  This will in turn, have a positive flow on effect of reducing some of our risks of developing these chronic health conditions, along with improving the quality of our sleep.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

http://www.sdprotocol.com.au

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