Taking melatonin could help night shift workers avoid cancer, researchers said Monday.

Researchers from North Carolina and British Columbia say the sleep supplement could be a “viable intervention strategy to reduce the burden of cancer” among that group, boosting the body’s ability to repair damage to their DNA caused by their irregular sleep cycle and disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm that regulates physical and behavioral processes.

“This trial is the first of its kind to evaluate the impact of melatonin supplements on oxidative DNA damage among night shift workers,” they wrote in a study published Monday in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine..