Kava. It's calming unlike caffeine, but also seems to help concentration. It seems to flush out of my system very quickly, so that I haven't noticed it affecting sleep either way.

If you have ADD or ADHD, Ritalin might help. I have severe ADHD that I refused to treat for decades, but I recently gave in.

I am _hugely_ sensitive to caffeine and feel a buzz even from decaf. It ruins my sleep in a similar way to what a couple people in this thread describe.

I take 10mg of instant-release Ritalin at 7AM each day, and it allows me to focus and deliver. It wears off by around 2-3PM, and I sleep like a rock most nights.

There are downsides as well: once it wears off, it leaves you mentally drained until you've slept. Also, there's a potential for building a tolerance, as well as potential for addiction. I've been lucky in both cases so far, but ymmv.

Low dose nicotine gum does help, but it’s pretty habit forming. I’m not convinced it’s worse than taking daily ADHD medication or caffeine though.

Aerobic exercise (preferably outdoors) is the one thing that works with mostly positive side effects.

The metabolite of nicotine has a long half-life and probably degrades sleep quality.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9443078/

Creatine, phenylpiracetam, tyrosine, 7 minute workout.

L-theanine

Seriously.

I panic if I run out

I do recommend switching to tea. Anecdotally I do feel better on tea than coffee, but coffee has a long-lasting addictive pull. I guess it's a good time to quit coffee again.