The Anxiety Optimization

"The Anxiety Optimization" is the thirteenth episode of the eighth season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The episode will air on Thursday, January 15, 2015.

Summary
Sheldon wants to increase his anxiety level to improve his work performance. Howard starts guessing whether Raj 's random comments are about Emily or his dog.

Extended Plot
Leonard and Penny are heading out for a date when Sheldon asks them for help testing his noise canceling headphones. Leonard and Penny agree and start telling Sheldon secret stuff that they do behind his back. Then they leave for their date. When Lenny returns Sheldon is still working at his whiteboard repeating the same word over and over. Leonard taps Sheldon on the shoulder startling him.

The next day Leonard comes into the living area and finds Sheldon in his spot. Sheldon is not going to work and can Leonard guess why? Leonard tells him cause he spent all night working on proton decay and he accomplished nothing so he is going to stay home to pout about it. Sheldon agrees and Leonard is fine that he is staying home.

After Leonard is gone, Sheldon steps into the hallway for some fresh air momentarily. He hears noises coming from Penny's apartment and checks it out. Penny is exercising doing a routine she hates which makes her work harder at it. Sheldon mistakenly thinks that she is trying to improve her coitus routine for Leonard. She also guesses that he spent all night working and he accomplished nothing so he is going to stay home to pout about it.

Leonard, Raj and Howard are eating at the cafeteria. Howard says he came up with a new game: Cinnamon vs. Emily. People have to guess whether Rajesh's relationship quotes are about Emily or Cinnamon. Sheldon arrives and explains that after talking to Penny, he thinks he can improve his performance if things are going on around him that he hates. All the guys are willing to help him if they get to irritate Sheldon. He also mentions that Penny is working very hard to keep herself looking attractive for Leonard.

Amy helps Sheldon out by measuring his anxiety levels. First she measures him to get a baseline and then does things to irritate him. Finally he gets a high irritation level which makes him overjoyed ruining the reading. He goes back and forth several times while watching the meter.

In apartment 4A everyone is playing the Emily vs Cinnamon game and keep trying to irritate Sheldon by disagreeing with everything he says.

Penny and the girls are visiting and talking about a Hawaii trip the best Zangen sales rep can win. Each has their own ideas what they would do there. Sheldon wants them to irritate him by talking about girls things like periods and PMS.

Sheldon is listening to loud music that he doesn't like while Leonard is trying to sleep. Sheldon does switch to his headphones and discovers that he likes Taylor Swift.

On date night, Sheldon is still pursuing his obsession which really bothers Amy. He says he can do two things at once, but is really ignoring her.

Leonard, Penny, Bernadette and Howard are in having dinner and playing Cinnamon vs. Emily as couples. Raj says they need to stop cause they will hurt Emily's feelings.

Amy asks him again to stop or he will drive himself crazy. Sheldon claims that has been hallucinating lately and still refuses to eat or pay attention to her. Amy kicks him out of her apartment.

Finally Penny and Leonard walk Sheldon to his bedroom and put him to bed. Both of them sing Soft Kitty to him and he finally goes to sleep. He is so peaceful that they once again kid themselves that they could use his pillow to smother him.

At the Caltech cafeteria, Emily approaches the gang and mentions the game they have been playing that involves her. The guys try to deny it; however, Emily tells them she finds it sexy and kisses Raj passionately. Afterwards she finds dog hair in his mouth.

Critics
To be entered.

Trivia

 * Amy eats a banana sideways because her mother said that that is the way a nice girl eats one.
 * First time Emily is seen at Caltech. Raj has not yet visited Emily's work though Penny has.

Quotes
To be entered.