Sleep, alcohol and caffeine

Fix the timing of sleep, cap caffeine after midday, and cut the evening drink.

How it works

Caffeine is a documented anxiogenic and alcohol produces rebound anxiety as it clears — often at 4am, which you then interpret as evidence that something is wrong. Poor sleep amplifies everything. None of this is glamorous and all of it moves the numbers. Consistent sleep and wake times matter more than total hours.

How good is the evidence

Strong evidence

Sleep, alcohol and caffeine all have well-established relationships with anxiety symptoms; addressing them is treated as foundational in the stepped-care literature.

Related techniques

• Worry triage — Sort each worry into one you can act on today and one you cannot. They need opposite treatment.
• Worry postponement — Capture worries as they arrive, and deal with them only in a fixed daily slot.
• Detached mindfulness — Notice a thought arrive, and take no action on it whatsoever — including not arguing with it.
• Decatastrophising — Realistic worst case, most likely case, and — the part people skip — how you would actually cope.