I have an nvme in a USB case on the raspberry pi 4, and every time I do a reboot, the unsafe shutdowns counter goes up.
Is there an option to restart the operating system correctly?
sudo reboot or sudo init 6 not shutting down the SSD properly.
Using reboot command is a standard/common way on Linux. Where do you see this counter going up?
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda
found a couple of similar reports around the web. Maybe a normal behaviour of Raspberry SBC??
- Pi4, SN570, USB Gehäuse, unsafe shutdowns. | ComputerBase Forum (German language)
- NVME Performance - Raspberry Pi Forums (English language)
Yes I started the thread on computerbase. 
No, unsafe shutdowns do not physically damage an SSD
power - Can “unsafe shutdowns” physically damage an SSD? - Super User
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do you have an active USB hub? Maybe you could try to connect your NVMe to the USB hub instead directly to your SBC. Just as in idea.