A Brief Explanation of the Coffee Nap

You read it here! The traditional nap where you just feel tired then lay down and sleep for a couple hours are naps of the past! The new "coffee nap" is in. The next time you feel tired, take a coffee nap, my friend.

It sounds contradictory, right? Well, yeah, it does sound contradictory. However, in reality, it works out great! Scientific evidence suggests that taking one of these will actually power you up more than just having a cup of coffee or just taking a nap.

How does the power nap work? Well, it's all about the chemistry; there are two competing effects at play here: caffeine and adenosine. Adenosine is the neurotransmitter in our bodies that tell our minds when we are feeling awake (it accumulates) and when we are feeling tired (when it dissipates). Caffeine takes about 30 minutes to take effect and make you alert.

How does one accomplish the coffee nap? When you start to feel tired, drink a cup of coffee. If you want the coffee quickly, then choose K-Cup coffee. After you consume that, take a 20-30 minutes and when you wake up, the caffeine will have kicked in and you'll feel great. This will help fight off sleep-inertia, or, the grogginess you feel right after waking up.

So the next time you want to take a nap, have some single cup coffee right before and then do a power nap. Let us know how well it worked out for you by commenting on the blog post!