[320] - The Real Cost of Night Shift for Women And How to Protect Yourself

In this episode, we break down what’s really happening when women work nights and why the research shows a higher risk of breast cancer in long-term night shift workers.
 More importantly, you’ll learn what you can do right now to reduce that risk in a practical, realistic way.

Here’s what we cover:

• How night shift disrupts your circadian rhythm and hormone balance
 • What large long-term studies are showing about elevated breast cancer risk
 • Melatonin’s role in repair, recovery, and hormone regulation
 • How artificial light at night interferes with melatonin
 • The impact on immune function, inflammation, and sleep quality
 • Which groups of women are most vulnerable, including menopause considerations
 • Roster issues that make risk worse (backward rotations, long stretches, poor recovery)
 • Realistic strategies to support your sleep timing and consistency
 • Smart light management and how to use daylight to your advantage
 • Recovery steps, naps, hydration, and reducing alcohol
 • The importance of screening with your GP and understanding your personal risk
 • How coaching can help you build routines that truly protect your health

If you want clarity, a plan that actually fits your shifts, and support to improve your health long-term, reach out, this is the work I do every day with shift workers.

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To learn more or to work with me, visit ahealthyshift.com.

Chapters

• 4:52 Welcome And Purpose
• 5:45 Night Shift And Breast Cancer Risk
• 7:54 What The Research Shows
• 9:38 How Circadian Disruption Drives Risk
• 12:46 Who Faces Higher Risk
• 14:13 Roster Realities And Biology
• 15:58 Core Strategies To Reduce Harm

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 3:17

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 a healthy shift podcast. My name, you guessed it, Roger Sutherland. And today I want to talk to you about something that doesn't get anywhere near enough attention. This is going to be uncomfortable. It's serious, but I want to say to you, it is very, very important. And what we're talking about today is the link between night shift, circadian misalignment, and breast cancer risk in women. And before you switch off, this is not all about doom and gloom. That's what the research has dealt with in the past. What I'm about is to support you and to give you the facts so that you can make decisions that will protect you, the female shift worker. And as always, I will give you clear steps that will help you to lower your risk. And another option as well. Setting the stage today, let's get it out there. Many women working shift work already carry a very, very big load. You're doing your central work. What you're doing is you are out there caring for people. A lot of you are caring for people that can't care for themselves. And what you're doing is keeping services running 24 hours a day. But while you are doing this, you are literally fighting your own biology. And this is the heart of today's topic because I want to arm you with the knowledge of this to help you to best understand it. When you understand this, you can put strategies in place around it to protect yourself. Your body has an internal clock, a real clock. It actually sits deep in the brain and it controls everything from hormones, your digestion, your body temperature, your mood, your sleep, and all the way down to how the cells literally repair themselves in your body. Now, when you are awake at night and you're trying to sleep during the day, what are you doing? You're actually pushing against that clock's natural diurnal rhythm. And over the years and sometimes decades, that misalignment actually builds and at a severe cost. And trust me on this, the research is very, very strong. So what does the research tell us? Now we've known for a long time that night shift isn't just a bad sleep pattern. In 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer actually classified shift work involving circadian disruption as a probable cause of breast cancer. And this is highly likely given what we now know. And at the time, some people thought that's a bit of a stretch. But now we have huge studies with more than four million women, and the results are consistent. Women who work night shift have a higher risk of breast cancer than women who don't. Let me repeat that for you. Four million women researched in studies, and the results are consistent. Ready? Women who work night shift have a higher risk of breast cancer than women who don't. Now the risk increases with this more night shifts per week, more years in shift work, and get this one starting night shift before menopause. And the strongest link is a hormone-sensitive cancers like ER plus, PR plus, and HER2, which is oestrogen receptor plus, progesterone receptor plus, and HER2. These are particular hormone-sensitive cancers. Now, this is not about blame, and I'm not here to guilt you. This is about understanding how your biology works so that you, the female shift worker, can actually take action for this. So, why does this risk increase? Let's go through that. Let's break down the why and break it down in very, very simple terms. The real problem starts with exposure to light at night. Light at night switches off our melatonin production. And melatonin isn't just the darkness signaler, or as we think of it, the sleep hormone. Melatonin is actually one of the body's strongest natural protectants against cancer. Melatonin literally repairs DNA, it reduces oxidative stress, it slows tumor growth, and it acts as a natural anti-estrogen. So when you work at night in light, what happens? Melatonin suppressed. And so what you're doing is you are suppressing the very function that melatonin is there to protect you against. This means that estrogen becomes more dominant, and hormone-sensitive tissues then suddenly become more vulnerable. And that is just the first hit. The second hit is that misaligned sleep. Poor sleep weakens the immune system and it affects how well our body finds and removes all of those abnormal cells in our body. And over the years, ladies, this adds up. It's not just one or two shifts, it adds up. You think about it, you're going over and over and over again, getting those sniffles, getting those colds, your immune system is actually compromised. You are causing hormonal chaos in your body. The third hit is a long-term pattern. If you've done night shift for 10, 20, or 30 years, that disruption doesn't just sit quietly. It affects cell repair, it affects inflammation, your metabolic health, hormone balance, fat gain. When you combine these things, these three, low melatonin, misaligned sleep, and long-term exposure, you literally have a recipe for disaster and a situation where risk increases. And who is most at risk? Let's see if I can hit you. From the research, we know that the risk is higher in women working more than five nights per week. If you do more than five nights per week, you're in trouble. Women working nights for longer than ten years. Women who begin night work before menopause. And w women with hormone-sensitive cancers. Ladies, I've got you covered, majority of you. And here is an important point. Women who started night shift after menopause didn't show the same increase in risk. How interesting. And what this does tell us is that the hormonal environment is playing a huge role. Now, why does this actually matter for you, the female shift worker? Because you're often told just to sleep more and just tough it out. But you are not struggling because you're weak. You're struggling because your biology is literally being pulled in the wrong direction every time you work through that night or rotate backwards. Now, when I say rotate backwards, I'm talking about quick changeovers, swing shifts. Call it whatever you like. No one should be doing an afternoon shift into a day shift. It just doesn't work and it causes biological issues. And we need to stop rostering them. And the problem is that the health system, workplaces, and rosters, no one designs them with circadian health in mind. So women in shift work end up doing all of the heavy lifting. They hold the job, they hold the home life, they got the sleep debt, the hormonal shifts, and here's your prize long-term health risks. And that's why it's so important that we talk about this openly. And what can you do about it? Well, you can't change the fact that shift work exists, but you can reduce the damage that it actually causes. And this is where circadian alignment becomes the all empowerment. Here are the biggest steps that actually make a difference that you can focus on, and you must focus on. It is super important. Protect your sleep window. As much and as often as you can, you need to go to bed and wake up at the most consistent times you can. Consistency is what keeps your body clock steady. It helps to anchor that circadian rhythm. It tells your body where it's at in time and space. And clients of mine that are working with this are actually starting to really thrive. And I mean really thrive because they have learnt the benefit of anchoring that circadian rhythm and getting up at the same time, early every day. Ladies, that's sleeping. That's not listening to your body, that's actually ignoring your body. You need to be getting up at the same time every day. Have yourself a nap before you go in. You may find that you don't even need it when you get up early at the same time. You get bonus points for going to bed at the same time, but I understand. You can't always do that. But the thing is, when you want to catch up on sleep, go to bed earlier the night after. Go to bed earlier when you can get a chance to go to bed earlier on those days off. It's not a day to celebrate and stay up late, spend time with your partner watching 15 episodes of something on Netflix. That is not what you should do. In fact, here's the rule. Here is the rule, and I want you to apply it every single time. Every time you go to start to watch the next episode, and remember, Netflix is very cunning. It will auto-start the next episode for you without you even having to think about it. It does it deliberately to keep you in front of it. But I want you to ask yourself this question. Would I set an alarm at 4 a.m. in the morning to get up and watch this episode? Because if the answer to that is no way, don't be ridiculous. I need my sleep. Go the hell to bed. Because that's what you actually need. It's Netflix. It's always there. You can get back to it. Trust me. Now the next thing is we need to use light properly. Light is a drug. And if you don't use it right, it will literally work against you. We need to get daylight as soon as we wake up. We need to keep our evenings dim, low light, zero blue lights. Block blue light on nights. We wear blue light blocking glasses if we can't control our uh environment, our lighting environment. Wear blue light blocking glasses on the way home from night shift. Block it. These small adjustments actually help to protect that melatonin. Remember, melatonin isn't just there to make you sleep. And so many of you are actually out there going, Oh, I don't need to worry about the melatonin because when I get home, I go to bed and I go straight to sleep. Well, you know what? Kudos to you. Because what that shows is you're actually exhausted, and that's called sleep pressure. That is not melatonin helping you to fall asleep. There is a massive difference. And this is why we tend to wake up because we don't have the melatonin in the system. And when you protect that melatonin, you're actually protecting your hormones. Number three, we need to recover between night shifts. After a block of nights, sleep must be your number one priority. Not chores, not Erin's, not running kids to school, not catching up on life. Get home, go straight to bed. That's the most important thing. I know it's not easy for all of you, but there are a lot of you that fiddle fart around when you get home from work, putting washing on, doing other things, and then deciding when it's time to go to sleep. That is not the way to do it. You're actually creating hormonal chaos in your body. Get home, get straight to bed, go to sleep. This will is what will help you. Get up and do those errands during the day, then go back and have a nap before you go back in. That is the key. That's what I used to do. I did that for 40 years. I was a two-nap person on every night shift. Always. Try it. It works extremely well. It also helps you to come out of night shift very well as well. Number four is to limit long runs of nights. Runs of more than five nights increase these risks sharply. And research is very clear on this. If you have any influence over your roster, avoid anything more than three or four nights. It's that simple. Number five, ready? Keep alcohol low. In fact, stop it. Alcohol pushes estrogen higher and it affects sleep quality. After night shift, this becomes even more important. Alcohol is not a it maybe it relaxes you, but it impacts greatly on your sleep. Cut it. It's also a toxin in your body. I love how people exercise, think they eat nutritiously, they can't what we can't work out why they're gaining weight, but they drink alcohol. Let me just be clear with you. Alcohol to the body is a toxin. It parks everything else while it deals with the alcohol. Minimize it. Keep your weight steady. Adipose tissue is what actually produces estrogen. So weight managers management helps to reduce the load on your hormone system as well. This is important. And know your personal risk. If you have a family history or other risk factors, sit down, have a chat with your GP. Get the right screening done for you and don't wait. Ask, am I at risk of breast cancer? They know what the actual uh genes are that you need to be monitoring or watching for. They are the doctors. They will be able to help you with this. Go and see a women's health specialist and find out. Why would you be at risk and continue to push yourself into, oh, don't worry about it. It's just night shift. I'll sort it out. You will sort it out. One day you'll be lying there in a hospital bed having chemotherapy wishing you had. The bigger message here is circadian misalignment isn't just about feeling tired or having a bad sleep. It is literally creating hormonal chaos in your body. It affects your hormones, it affects your cellular health, and it affects your long-term disease risk. And for women on night shift, this impact is real and it is measurable. But here's the good news. Because when you understand your circadian rhythm and you learn how to work with it instead of against it, you can reduce these risks. You will feel better, you will sleep better, and you will protect your long-term health. And this is exactly what I specialize in with female shift workers. I help female shift workers to get their circadian rhythms as aligned as possible so that they can reduce the impacts of night shift and protect their long-term health. I literally work with clients one-on-one and help them to fix their sleep patterns, structure their routines, get their light diet right so that your hormones aren't fighting against you every single day and night. And ladies, the questions is simple. And I want you to listen carefully. This is the question. Can you afford not to? Well, can you? If you want support, guidance, and you would like a clear plan for your shift work, reach out because this is what I do, and it can change your health in a real and measurable way. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode of a Healthy Shift Podcast. 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.