Caffeine, alcohol and
the night you pay for them

The 16:00 coffee feels harmless because the afternoon went fine. The nightcap feels helpful because it works — at first. Both have a bill, and both send it later. Day 11 of the programme is about seeing the bill clearly.

What is established

Stated plainly, because both carry the strongest label: caffeine taken six hours before bed can still reduce sleep. Six hours. The afternoon cup is not a morning decision wearing a disguise — it is an evening one. And alcohol can speed sleep onset but fragments the second half of the night, which is why a nightcap can feel helpful and still cost you: you fall asleep faster and sleep worse.

What the programme asks

As always, the lesson splits in two. The Restore version is pure observation: notice how caffeine feels to you — no forced cut-off, no rule made for someone else's body. The Optimize version is a bounded experiment: trial a caffeine cut-off eight hours before bed, for one week, and see what happens to your nights. One week. One variable. Your own data.

Why timing is the lever

Notice what neither action does: they don't ban anything. The programme's position on caffeine and alcohol is about when, not whether — the same timing logic it applies to light and meals. A substance is not good or bad in the abstract; it has a schedule, and the schedule has costs you can see once you look.

If sleep problems persist — with or without the coffee — that is a conversation for a clinician, not a stronger willpower experiment. The programme teaches observation, not diagnosis.

MITOMAXX is an educational programme, not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you are often tired and don't know why, talk to your doctor.