According to research at the Sleep Research Laboratory at Loughborough University, in a study titled “Suppression of Sleepiness In Drivers:  Combination of Caffeine With A Short Nap” it was found that found that the mid-afternoon ’sleepiness peak’ was significantly reduced by caffeine and eliminated by the combined treatment of caffeine and a power nap.

Here is how you take a caffeine nap:

1. Drink a cup of coffee (’the caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.’)
2. Doze (’you’ll get what’s known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness.’)
3. Wake up after 15 minutes (any longer and your brain’s prefrontal cortex – used for judgement, etc. – will ’spin down’ and can take 30 mins to reboot)

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The caffeine nap works by you utilizing the time that it takes the caffeine to be absorbed into your bloodstream to have a nap, helping to clear your system of adenosine, a chemical that is supposed to make you sleepy.

You can find a bit more about caffeine naps in Wikipedia’s more general section on  Power naps.

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Tags: Caffeine