What Are Coffee Naps?

I recently learned something beautiful. I personally enjoy a fairly irregular sleep schedule, and as a result I'm often tired at inconvenient times.

I'm an avowed coffee addict, but the coffee only goes so far. I could nap, but I don't like taking full-fledged naps in the middle of the day.

The solution I landed on was something called a coffee nap.



If you like videos, here's one that explains it well:

Well, that video explained it really well. I don't have much more to add, and it doesn't seem right to summarize a video that's only 2 1/2 minutes long.


For those of you who don't like videos, or can't play them:

A coffee nap is accomplished by quickly drinking coffee (or some other form of caffeine), followed immediately by a short 20 minute nap. This method turns out to be more effective than either the nap or the coffee on its own. Why does this work? (It does work according to a few studies)

Part of the reason humans begin to feel tired is due to a chemical called adenosine. When this hormone is present in the brain, it binds to adenosine receptors that lie on the cell membrane between adjacent brain cells. When this binding happens across many receptors with millions of molecules, the effect is that you feel tired.

Caffeine, is structurally very similar to adenosine (see picture below), and it can also bind to adenosine receptors. When Caffeine is bonded to adenosine receptors, it physically blocks them them so that any adenosine present cannot bind (Here's some science for nerds). By blocking the adenosine receptor, you 'trick' your brain into not getting as tired. 

Image: ClockworkSoul

The problem with caffeine is that it cannot "kick out" adenosine that is already bound to receptors, so caffeine is limited in its effect. Here's where the nap comes in. Napping naturally clears adenosine out of adenosine receptors. I tried to figure out exactly why this happens, but the science here gets really complicated really fast. Here's a good paper talking about the basics of adenosine regulation of sleep. Suffice it to say that over the course of a 20 minute nap adenosine receptors become available as adenosine concentration decreases.

The process of getting the sweet, sweet caffeine from your stomach to your bloodstream takes about 20 minutes from the time you drink the coffee. You might notice a theme of 20 minutes starting to take form. If you drink coffee, then follow it with a 20 minute nap, the adenosine levels decrease, the receptors become available, and the caffeine enters from the bloodstream, enabling it to bind to a large number of empty adenosine receptors, far more than if the pesky adenosine was still present. This method is much more effective than naps or caffeine alone at achieving the goal of getting as many adenosine receptors bound to caffeine as possible.

Enjoy your scientifically-aided wakefulness!



Cheers,

    - Scott





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