Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone

[Suzanimal]

I think I'm going to try this at Starbucks. Think they'd mind if I brought my snuggie?

...

To understand a coffee nap, you have to understand how caffeine affects you. After it's absorbed through your small intestine and passes into your bloodstream, it crosses into your brain. There, it fits into receptors that are normally filled by a similarly-shaped molecule, called adenosine.

Adenosine is a byproduct of brain activity, and when it accumulates at high enough levels, it plugs into these receptors and makes you feel tired. But with the caffeine blocking the receptors, it's unable to do so. As Stephen R. Braun writes in Buzz: the Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine, it's like "putting a block of wood under one of the brain’s primary brake pedals."

"it takes about 20 minutes for caffeine to hit your brain"

Now, caffeine doesn't block every single adenosine receptor — it competes with adenosine for these spots, filling some, but not others.

But here's the trick of the coffee nap: sleeping naturally clears adenosine from the brain. If you nap for longer than 15 or 20 minutes, your brain is more likely to enter deeper stages of sleep that take some time to recover from. But shorter naps generally don't lead to this so-called "sleep inertia" — and it takes around 20 minutes for the caffeine to get through your gastrointestinal tract and bloodstream anyway.

So if you nap for those 20 minutes, you'll reduce your levels of adenosine just in time for the caffeine to kick in. The caffeine will have less adenosine to compete with, and will thereby be even more effective in making you alert.

...

Taking a coffee nap is pretty straightforward. First, drink coffee. Theoretically, you could drink another caffeinated beverage, but tea and soda have generally have much less caffeine than coffee, and energy drinks are disgusting. Here's a good database of the amount of caffeine in many types of drinks.

You need to drink it quickly, to give yourself a decently long window of time to sleep as it's going through your gastrointestinal tract and entering your bloodstream. If it's tough for you to drink a lot of hot coffee quickly, good options might be iced coffee or espresso.

Right after you're finished, immediately try to go to sleep. Don't worry if it doesn't come easily — just reaching a tranquil half-asleep stage can be helpful.

Finally, make sure to wake up within 20 minutes, so you don't enter the deeper stages of sleep, and you're awake when the caffeine is just starting to hit your brain. Who the heck can fall asleep in 20 minutes?? I'm just getting settled down.

Voila: the perfect coffee nap.

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/28/6074177...ffeine-science

[Acala]

Bring an ostrich pillow.

[Suzanimal]

Bring an ostrich pillow.

I didn't know what you were talkin' about, so I looked it up - wtf? LOL, how on earth can one sleep in that thing.

[cajuncocoa]

I didn't know what you were talkin' about, so I looked it up - wtf? LOL, how on earth can one sleep in that thing.

I think I could! I want one!!

[Suzanimal]

I think I could! I want one!!

Not me, I don't think I could breathe in that thing. My brain needs all the oxygen it can get, I can't afford to lose anymore brain cells.

[tod evans]

Not me, I don't think I could breathe in that thing. My brain needs all the oxygen it can get, I can't afford to lose anymore brain cells.

I only have one left that kinda functions....

[Suzanimal]

I only have one left that kinda functions....

At least we'll be safe during the Zombie Apocalypse.

[Czolgosz]

I routinely take 20 minute-ish naps in the afternoon, 'bout 2pm. Really is perfect, for me.

[Suzanimal]

I routinely take 20 minute-ish naps in the afternoon, 'bout 2pm. Really is perfect, for me.

Do you "coffe-nap" or just plain ol nap? And do you actually fall asleep? 20 minutes just isn't enough time for me to fall asleep.

[Czolgosz]

Do you "coffe-nap" or just plain ol nap? And do you actually fall asleep? 20 minutes just isn't enough time for me to fall asleep.

No coffee involved. I naturally fall asleep very quickly and naturally wake up in a short amount of time, as well. 'Course I'm snoozing in the cab of a '65 truck, so creature comforts are at a minimum.

[GunnyFreedom]

I've actually done this lol. I reasoned it out myself and did it, and it works. Sometimes when working my schedule you don't have much choice....

Imagine being up 24 or 36 hours, and in another 2 hours or so you have another job. Get a nice cup of cooled (not cold) coffee with massive caffeine, reach the point of sleep before drinking it then drink all of it. Wake up about 10 minutes after the caffeine starts picking you up. Usually get ~30 - 35 minutes.

You also need +90min spells when possible for REM-cycle recuperation, or sleep debt will quickly become a mountain and it will crush you flat.

[Suzanimal]

No coffee involved. I naturally fall asleep very quickly and naturally wake up in a short amount of time, as well. 'Course I'm snoozing in the cab of a '65 truck, so creature comforts are at a minimum.

No wonder your naps only last 20 minutes.

[Suzanimal]

I've actually done this lol. I reasoned it out myself and did it, and it works. Sometimes when working my schedule you don't have much choice....

Imagine being up 24 or 36 hours, and in another 2 hours or so you have another job. Get a nice cup of cooled (not cold) coffee with massive caffeine, reach the point of sleep before drinking it then drink all of it. Wake up about 10 minutes after the caffeine starts picking you up. Usually get ~30 - 35 minutes.

You also need +90min spells when possible for REM-cycle recuperation, or sleep debt will quickly become a mountain and it will crush you flat.

Mr. Smartypants.

I drool when I sleep, I wonder how long I'm asleep before I start drooling? You have any idea what sleep cycle drool happens in?

[GunnyFreedom]

Mr. Smartypants.

I drool when I sleep, I wonder how long I'm asleep before I start drooling? You have any idea what sleep cycle drool happens in?

LMAO the sad part is I do actually. It's the first part of the sleep process where your body goes entirely slack. It doesn't happen so much later in the REM cycle when your face and your muscles tense up. You are more likely to drool ~10 minutes after you fall asleep than you are at ~40.

[GunnyFreedom]

I am the hyper-nerd. I am sure it is why I am still single. Sheldon Cooper is an ametur.

[Suzanimal]

LMAO the sad part is I do actually. It's the first part of the sleep process where your body goes entirely slack. It doesn't happen so much later in the REM cycle when your face and your muscles tense up. You are more likely to drool ~10 minutes after you fall asleep than you are at ~40.

Really?! Damn, my pillow's usually damp in the morning, I must be doing some serious drooling. Maybe I'm part Basset Hound.

[GunnyFreedom]

Really?! Damn, my pillow's usually damp in the morning, I must be doing some serious drooling. Maybe I'm part Basset Hound.

LOL well, it's a cycle. 90 minutes after you fall asleep you are back in the slack-muscle stage and then you go round and round and do it over. It is actually a sign of a healthy sleep if you wake up in the slack stage rather than the tense and dreaming stage. Therefore you would have been drooling right before you woke up, too.

[Suzanimal]

I am the hyper-nerd. I am sure it is why I am still single. Sheldon Cooper is an ametur.

Pfft, you'll find the right girl. I don't think you're a "hyper-nerd", I think it's cool as hell that you think about that kind of stuff. I would've never figured that out. I like to be around smart people - I'm always hoping a little will rub off.

[Suzanimal]

LOL well, it's a cycle. 90 minutes after you fall asleep you are back in the slack-muscle stage and then you go round and round and do it over. It is actually a sign of a healthy sleep if you wake up in the slack stage rather than the tense and dreaming stage. Therefore you would have been drooling right before you woke up, too.

Ewww...geez, I'm drooling off and on all night. Gross...

[mosquitobite]

what if I don't drool at all????

[Suzanimal]

what if I don't drool at all????

You probably don't have a damp pillow that smells "funny", consider yourself blessed.

[William Tell]

I am the hyper-nerd. I am sure it is why I am still single. Sheldon Cooper is an ametur.

You spend to much time fighting for freedom. Go chase skirts, in a gentlemanly fashion

[fr33]

I call them "power-naps". I'm really good at taking a 10-15 minute nap and being refreshed afterwards. Around 1 or 2 pm is usually when the need for sleep really hits me, especially if I'm driving.

People claim that "bulletproof coffee", which is coffee with butter added, helps distribute the caffeine longer over time. Don't know if I believe it.