Tricks for Staying Awake: Coffee + Power Nap = Caffeine Nap

Caffeine is no substitute for sleep. I know it. Truth be told, I should probably drink considerably less coffee and make more of an effort to get a solid eight hours of shut-eye. But knowing how I ought to operate on a day-to-day basis doesn't help much in the moment when I need to drive four hours and I'm exhausted, or when I've got to finish a report by the end of the day and I only want to put my head down on the keyboard and doze for a while.

Lifestyle changes, like getting to bed more diligently at a decent hour, would probably reduce the frequency of these situations, but let's be honest here: Most of us at some point find ourselves in a position where our brains are dragging with fatigue and we need to be totally awake as soon as possible. We need a quick fix. If the tried and true methods don't work for you, I recommend trying a caffeine nap.

Friends of mine seem to each employ their own variation, but in a nutshell these seem to be the basic, consistent steps in how you take a caffeine nap:

Drink a cup of coffee.
Immediately lie down for a 15-minute power nap.

This phenomenon has picked up steam on internet in the last few years, but the science behind it dates back more than ten years to research from Loughborough University in the UK. Researchers tried several different treatments on sleepy drivers to determine what was the best method to stay awake, thus cutting down on fatigue-related accidents. The best method? A mixture of two treatments-a power nap/coffee combo.

It takes caffeine about 15 minutes to start having a noticeable effect on the body-at least, enough to keep you awake. Theoretically, the caffeine nap should allow the coffee to kick in right as you're waking up from the nap. Those that swear by the power nap will tell you that it's remarkable how much difference a simple 15-20 minutes of snoozing can have on one's mental clarity. As with regular power naps, the point of a caffeine nap is not to legitimately fall fast asleep; simply dozing with one's eyes closed is enough to clear your brain of adenosine, the chemical that makes us feel cloudy and tired. The coffee adds a one-two punch that should have you up and feeling refreshed.

For those wanting more specifics on how and when to take the powernap, I can provide a few tips from my own anecdotal experience:

"A cup of coffee" means simply that. As in, a modest cup of your standard brewed cup of joe. Don't mess with the $7 white chocolate mocha. You don't have time to sit and enjoy it, and there's no point in paying that much for a simple boost. Besides, if you're trying to wake up, especially to drive somewhere, you don't want to power up with the caffeine nap only to crash half an hour later when the sugar high runs out. Even if you don't like real, actual coffee coffee, just put a little cream and sugar-free sweetener and throw it down.

Keep it manageable. On the same note, make sure your "cup" isn't so big that it's going to take you ten minutes to finish it. If the timing is that far off, the caffeine may start to kick in before the 15-minute nap is finished, and you won't achieve maximum results.

Throw in a pain reliever. I've tried this variation myself as an added booster. If your fatigue is accompanied by a splitting headache, mix a pouch of aspirin-based headache powder like BC or Goody's into the coffee before you drink it. Yes, it will taste nasty. But as I said earlier, good taste isn't the point here. The aspirin will start working on your headache while you nap. (Caution: Obviously know your tolerance for aspirin before you decide to take any. Read the indications on the package carefully.)

Don't be tempted to overdo it. Those unfamiliar with power naps, be warned: If you stay down for more than about 20-25 minutes, you're guaranteed to feel groggy when you wake up. Your brain will have started into a deeper sleep cycle, and you'll be in even more of a fog than when you lay down.

Know your limits. Just as power napping doesn't work for everyone, the caffeine nap isn't a universal fix-all. If you drink a lot of caffeine anyway, the effects of the caffeine nap will probably be less noticeable since your tolerance is higher. Also, for reasons I can't quite explain, it doesn't seem to work as well if you do it several days in a row. The caffeine nap, in my own personal experience, is best reserved for those situations where it's absolutely essential to be wide awake quickly and there's no other option.

Think of it as an emergency wake-up tool. Most of us find ourselves in that situation sooner or later. But seriously, the preventative approach-getting a decent night's rest on a regular basis-should be our first priority. Not that I do it myself...

References

National Center for Biotechnology Information. Suppression of sleepiness in drivers: combination of caffeine with a short nap (abstract). PubMed.gov.