Shift Work and Circadian Health: Real Risk, Real Mitigations

Summary

Night-shift work is a **genuine, dose-responsive stressor, not a verdict** — the cardiovascular, metabolic, sleep-disorder and accident signals are solid enough to take seriously (and night-shift work carries a contested "probably carcinogenic" label), but the magnitudes are modest, the cohorts are confounded, the cancer call is the weakest link, and a concrete mitigation toolkit (strategic bright light during the shift, scheduled naps plus pre-shift caffeine, judicious low-dose melatonin before day-sleep, forward-rotating schedules, anchor sleep, blackout day-sleep) measurably defends the wor