Intern John & Your Morning Show

Intern John & Your Morning Show

Wake up with Your Morning Show and hosts Intern John, Rose, and Sos, and featuring Erick and Hoody. Weekday mornings from 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

 

Have You Ever Tried A Caffeine Nap?

Tired young woman sleeping on couch at home

Photo: fizkes / iStock / Getty Images

Coffee naps are often just what your tired brain needs. Caffeine takes about 20 minutes to enter your bloodstream, so by timing a nap within that window, you wake up with both the restorative effects of sleep and the stimulating effects of caffeine. If you’re battling afternoon fatigue, our experts say it shouldn’t be too hard to fall asleep within 20 minutes. The same is true if you’re a sleep-deprived late-shift worker or a student pulling an all-nighter. A coffee nap is like a glorified power nap, and it’s pure magic when it comes to staving off sleepiness.

Short naps also allow you to take the edge off of everyday fatigue, without waking up feeling worse.

Naps that are longer than 20 to 30 minutes put you at risk of something called sleep inertia, which is when you fall into a deep sleep and then wake up in the middle of a REM-cycle feeling hopelessly groggy. Keep it short ‘n sweet, and you should be good to go.

Caffeine works as an adenosine receptor blocker and, when added to a quick nap, also reduces the amount of adenosine in your brain. With them working in tandem, it explains why you might wake up from a coffee nap feeling more alert than usual, especially compared to a regular nap. Coffee naps give your brain “less to fight with” once you’re awake!

I can see the coffee nap being a perfect trick for anyone who’s in desperate need of a quick burst of energy, as well as anyone who struggles to wake up from mid-day naps. Cheers to your next caffeine snooze.


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