[314] - A Proven 3-Step Process to Depression

If you’re feeling flat, unmotivated, tired, or just not yourself… it’s not because you’re broken. It’s because shift work quietly pulls you into a spiral you don’t even see happening.

I’m talking about three behaviours stopping movement, relying on ultra-processed food, and missing daylight, that slowly drag your energy, mood, and resilience downhill. The good news? You can turn this around far more easily than you think. And today I’m walking you through simple changes that work with your roster, not against it.

Here’s what we’re diving into:

• The three-behaviour spiral that sends shift workers into low mood and poor energy
• Why planned, intentional movement steadies your sleep and lifts your resilience
• How ultra-processed foods mess with your brain chemistry and keep you feeling flat
• Easy whole-food swaps that fit into any roster, even with limited breaks
• The role of daylight exposure in keeping your body clock on track
• How to stack small, repeatable habits so you can build momentum on your worst weeks
• Real-life timing tips for nights, early starts, and turnarounds
• And where you can get support from someone who actually understands shift work

These aren’t big dramatic overhauls. These are small things that give you enormous returns, if you put them in place consistently.

If you’re struggling and want some guidance that truly fits your roster, I’d love to chat.
 Book a free one-to-one coaching assessment call with me. We’ll talk about what’s going on for you, what’s getting in your way, and the exact steps you can take right now to start feeling better.

If you enjoy the show, it would mean a lot if you could rate and review the podcast. And make sure you subscribe, so you’re notified as soon as a new episode drops.

Let’s keep you well, strong, and in control of your shift-work life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 4:03 The Reverse How-To On Depression
• 5:00 Step One: Stop Moving
• 9:20 Step Two: Eat Ultra-Processed Food
• 12:57 Step Three: Wreck Your Body Clock

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:41

Shift work can be brutal, but it doesn't have to be. Welcome to a healthy shift. My name is Roger Sutherland, certified nutritionist, veteran law enforcement officer, and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades. Through this podcast, I aim to educate shift workers using evidence-based methods to not only survive the rigors of shift work, but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's show. And welcome back to another episode of a Healthy Shift Podcast. My name is Roger Sutherland and I am your shift working guide. Now, today's episode is going to sound a little strange, but I'm calling it your proven three-step process to depression. That's right. I'm going to show you how to step into depression. Yep, you heard that right. It's not a how-to, it's going to be a bit of a wake-up call for you because these things I'm about to talk about are what I see all the time in my shift working community who are feeling really low, flat, or just completely unmotivated. So let's talk about how you got there, and then you can make an informed decision. See how much of this really hurts you. And I'll be honest, I've done all three of these things myself at different points over the years. And every single time, my mood and my energy has gone downhill very, very quickly. So let's get straight into this one. Step number one to getting depression. And the first one, this is a big one, is no regular or planned exercise at all. Now, a lot of us think I've got to get to the gym. Oh, I've got to get to the gym. I've got to get to the gym. But what about if we don't worry about the gym for just uh today? And let's worry about just getting some form of movement. Now, before you roll your eyes and think, here we go, it's just another Roger Fitness talk. Just hang with me for a sec, because this isn't about running marathons or getting into the gym and squatting 200 kilos six days a week. This is literally just about movement, planned and consistent movement. Because when you stop moving, everything else starts to fall apart. Your energy drops, your sleep gets worse, your mood follows right behind this. You start waking up tired, you start feeling stiff, sluggish, a bit cranky, then you can start to get depressed. Oh, hello, that's what we're talking about. And it's easier to think, oh, I must be getting old, or it's just the night shifts catching up. But most of the time, it's literally because you stop giving your body that regular nudge that it actually needs. And it doesn't have to be complicated. A walk, just a simple stretch session, 10 minutes with some resistance bands, just something that is planned and repeated. Because when you move regularly, you actually start sending a message to your brain that says, I am still in control. But when you don't, that message disappears. And over time, you can really start to feel it. So that's step one in our three-step process to depression. Just stop moving, just become sedentary. Crawl out of bed, flop on the couch, and watch Netflix. It'll work for you every single time. You'll start to feel really miserable. So now that we've crushed step one, let's have a look at step two. Let's just eat a diet full of ultra-processed foods. Simple. So we're going to be sedentary and we're going to eat a diet full of ultra-processed foods. This is an absolute winner. It's to live off ultra-processed food. Now, look, as shift workers, we have all been there. You finished a shift, you're tired, you're starving, and you don't want to cook. So you grab whatever's quick and easy. You're sitting on the couch, you're watching Netflix, you pick up your phone, and you order Uber. And all these foods are designed to hit all of the right buttons. They're salty, they're sweet, they're crunchy, they're comforty, they feel good for about 15 minutes and it's super easy. But after that, you crash. These foods mess with your blood sugar, they mess with your energy, and they totally screw up your brain chemistry. They actually change how the neurotransmitters work in your brain, particularly the ones that regulate your mood. So instead of feeling balanced and calm, you start feeling anxious and foggy and a bit all over the place. And then what happens? You crave more of the same food to get that quick little pick-me-up again. And it's a cycle. And it's so easy to fall into, especially when you're exhausted and just trying to get through the wheat. Now, I'm not saying you have to live on kale and quinoa, but if you just start swapping some of that processed stuff for real food, you'll start to notice a difference really quickly in how you feel. Add some protein, add a bit of color, eat food that actually looks like food. Because the food you eat doesn't just fuel your body, it literally builds your brain chemistry. Eat that ultra-processed food, and we're well on the way to depression again. So there's step two. Step three. Let's go about messing up our circadian rhythm. This is just the last piece. To really put ourselves into a depressed state, let's completely mess up our circadian rhythm. This one is probably the most common amongst shift workers, and it's also the actual sneakiest. And here's how you do it. This is how you stuff up your circadian rhythm. Avoid daylight, especially in the morning. Stay inside. When the alarm goes off, just roll over, hit snooze, and just go back to sleep. Keep the blind shut. Lie in bed and scroll for hours on end. And then go straight from that, from the artificial light coming off your phone, and let's just go out and stay inside the house and start watching TV in that artificial light as well. Let's just go from one artificial light to another. That is absolutely guaranteed to throw your mood off. You see, your circum rhythm is your internal body clock, and it is literally driven by daylight. And when you get bright, natural daylight in your eyes early in the day, it literally tells your brain, look out, it's daytime, wake up, let's go. It then sets your hormones in motion, it regulates your sleep, and it even helps you to release serotonin, which is a key player in your mood. But if you skip the daylight or you're always in dim light, crawl out of bed, crawl to the couch, turn on the Netflix. Your body clock's got absolutely no idea what time it is. Is it any wonder you can't sleep at night? Your body doesn't know whether it's supposed to or not. You start feeling tired during the day, you nap, then you're wired at night, your sleep goes to crap, your energy's flat. And again, your mood follows. The fix, honestly, it's simple. As soon as you can after waking up, step outside. Even for a few minutes. Let the daylight hit your eyes and also your skin. Now you don't have to go outside and stare at the sun. All you gotta do is just be outside in the daylight. You might think, oh, I'm getting light inside. It isn't enough. The lighting in your house, as bright as you think it is, is only around about 500 lux of light. But when you step outside, it's 10,000 lux. And not only that, but it is the spectrum of light that your body requires. You need that particular light in your eyes or around you so that it goes into your eyes. And it's one of the easiest and it's the cheapest thing that you can actually do for your mental health. They're the three proven steps to depression. Now, as a shift worker, I want you to think about this. How many of those things are you actually incorporating into your everyday? And is it any wonder that you feel shit about yourself? You're gaining weight, you feel awful in life, and you start to feel really quite depressed. Think about how many of those three actually hits you hard. So let's bring all this together. The three-step process is depression. Sedentary, stop moving. Just go and sit on the couch and watch Netflix, easy. Eat rubbish food. Just eat highly processed foods, Uber, easy. And then just avoid daylight, stay inside. It's so simple. That's all you gotta do to head towards depression. And one of the saddest things about depression is once it hits, it's awful. And I know because it is absolutely awful. And it can take years and years and years of psychology and counseling to get you out of that depressed state. But I will tell you this: without any doubt whatsoever, the way out of depression is the reverse of literally what I just told you. It's to get moving early in the day, out in the daylight, and start eating whole foods. Start eating food that looks like food. And then you will find you will start to feel so much better. Start moving regularly, eat a bit better, and get some morning light. And you will be amazed at just how much your mood, your energy, and your outlook starts to shift. Because depression isn't always about something wrong, quote unquote, with you. Sometimes it's about what you're actually missing from your routine. And we go down that spiral and we start to just get really, really confused, confusing our body, and then we struggle to find a way out. And those three movement, food, and light are all the foundation for starting to feel better. Now, if you're sitting there and you're thinking, Yeah, I know I need to fix this stuff, but I just don't really know where to start. I totally get that. It can feel like a lot. And you hear all this advice and think, I don't even know where to begin. And that is where I come in. This is exactly what I help shift workers with. I break it all down into small, practical, realistic, habit-based steps that actually fit around your life. No diets, there's no crazy routines, just simple, sustainable habits that get you starting to feel better, sleep better, and then you get your energy back, you start moving more, you start doing more, and you start feeling so much better and you start taking care of yourself more. And if this is something that sounds like what you need, have a think about where you're heading with what you're doing right now, because it doesn't get better. You can't just hang out for your leave. Because even though you get out of the dirty water when you go on holiday, you've got to get back into the dirty water again when you get back. So learn how to go about it for when you're heading for the dirty water. Now, if this is something that sounds like what you need, there's a link in the show notes to book a one-to-one coaching assessment call with me. It's free. We'll chat about where you're at, what it is that's getting in your way, and what steps you can take right now to start feeling better. And I will help you. And I will help you by coaching you with empathy, support, and understanding because I've been there. I know exactly what it is like to be in your situation. Shift working, running families, doing whatever. That's why I make my coaching as simple as I can possibly make it for people. Simple coaching, simple habits, simple routines, no bro science. Just get you moved feeling better and start moving. Because everybody wants more energy to do the things that they love outside of their work. And you all want to feel better. No one wants depression. And obviously, the title of this podcast is not what I want. I don't want you to head for depression, but I want you to understand that these behaviors are what are going to head you into that direction. So let's turn all of that around. I hope you got something out of that episode today because it's a really, really important one. It's reverse psychology. Start thinking about the steps that you're taking today. Because if you don't start turning these things around, that's where you're heading. Thanks for listening. Please don't forget to rate and review the show, and I'll talk to you on the next one. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released. It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on. If you want to know more about me or work with me, you can go to ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.