Thoughts at 2 a.m. come with a terrible exchange rate. Every worry costs double after midnight.

Late at night your brain is running on less of everything it needs for perspective, so ordinary problems get priced wrong. The same worry that will look handleable at nine in the morning feels enormous and permanent at two. Nothing about the situation changed. The currency did, and you are doing the math at the worst possible rate.

When the spiral starts, try writing the worry down in one sentence and agreeing to look at it after breakfast. Most of the time it reads smaller in daylight. If the nights keep going that way for weeks, that is a fair thing to mention to someone you trust.