Shift work or irregular sleep

Every entry whose writeup carries a note for shift work or irregular sleep. The note is the entry’s own — follow it for the full context. See this in the planner →

Supplements

• CaffeineUse it strategically rather than continuously through a shift: at the start (or immediately before a short pre-shift nap), and cut it off at least 6 hours before your daytime sleep period, the same logic as avoiding it near bedtime on a normal schedule.
• MelatoninThe timing flips from the usual advice: instead of before your normal bedtime, take it shortly before the daytime sleep period that follows a night shift. Evidence is real but modest — a Cochrane review found it modestly lengthens daytime sleep — and it works better paired with blocking light on the way home and during that sleep window, since bright light overrides the signal melatonin is sending.
• Vitamin D3Shift workers show meaningfully lower vitamin D levels than day workers in pooled data — one review of over 53,000 workers found roughly 80% had insufficient levels — largely from less daytime sun exposure. Worth testing rather than assuming.

Other situations