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Rotating shifts every five days and my sleep collapses on the swing week

Use the two days off before nights as a deliberate shift, not as recovery. That was the change that mattered most for me.

What it looks like: on the first day off, stay up two or three hours later than normal and sleep in as far as you can. On the second, push another two or three hours and take a solid afternoon nap. You arrive at the first night shift already half adapted rather than taking the whole hit at once.

It costs you the social value of those two days, which is a real cost and worth naming honestly. But the first two nights stopped being a write-off for me.

149 · in/better-sleep ·

Mail resupply boxes or buy as I go on a tight three week budget

220 over 21 days is about 10.50 a day, which is doable but not luxurious if you are buying in small town shops where everything is marked up. That arithmetic on its own pushes me toward posting the bulk staples: oats, dried milk, rice, dense bars: and buying only fresh and treat items on the trail.

96 · in/thru-hiking ·