How to Take A Caffeine Nap

Here's a great way to increase your energy, vitality and stamina with a cup of coffee and a quick doze..

I found an interesting energy tip in Field and Stream magazine. I am not normally a reader, but was waiting for an appointment and couldn’t find anything else to read. So I picked one up and flipped almost immediately to a side bar tip The Caffeine Nap. I have never heard of such a thing so I was immediately intrigued....

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Comments

[Henry Bowman]

Well. . I just took a caffeine nap. I do feel more alert right now.

I sorta did it wrong though. See, it takes me a while to drink a cup of coffee, so I slammed a Coke Zero in record time. By the time I get finished with a cup of coffee, the caffeine probably will already be started doing its thing.

Maybe I'll try it with some warm coffee.

[Dom MacDonald]

He He, I actually studied there and its called Loughborough University, Not Britain University in Loughborough. Also the only English person that says oneself is the Queen ;). Excellent article though, digg ++

[Sebhelyesfarku]

coffein is crap, increases the risk of heart attack, stroke etc. I don't drink coffee at all.

[Christophe]

Good job promoting lies. Coffee actually lowers the risk of stroke and heart attack, you idiot.

[Brad Isaac]

My secret plan to rename Loughborough University has been foiled again!! LOL.

I was typing that up on my Pocket PC and goofed it up 3 times. My apologies to the University and the Queen :)

[Geeks Are Sexy]

"coffein is crap, increases the risk of heart attack, stroke etc. I don't drink coffee at all."

Like all things, coffee is good if taken in moderate amount..

Stop promoting lies :)

Kiltak
[Geeks Are Sexy] Tech. News

[Jon]

This actually works! I'm a college student and I've spent the last four years doing the caffeine nap. It's really true. It totally gets you going when you need it. It's nice to see my own 'personal' findings validated.

[Hector Torvisque]

University of Britain? Are you mad? Do you have a University of America?

[Wayne Lambright]

I do this to have more lucid dreams, one ounce of espresso before bed, will fuel some vivid dreams.

Caution: make sure you’re really sleepy else you’ll be awake all night if you can go to sleep before the caffeine kicks in.

[Gregorio]

I tried it ... its ok but the best method to stay awake is the classic "frustrated wank" ... just keep it hard and you´ll never fell asleep. cheers!!
;)

[Dude]

I once took a hit of LSD before accidentally falling asleep. I had the most interesting night's sleep of my life. The nicotine patch also gives you some very odd psychological dreams. I think any stimulant before sleep produces pretty strange effects.

[John Edwards]

I'm still trying to figure out if the guy's picture in the upper left corner of this screen is hot or not. My friend says he is TOTALLY doable, but I think his body parts are out of proportion.

[Kim]

As the wife of said guy in picture, tell your friend "thanks" he is totally 'doable'. No proportion issues here - sorry ladies he's taken.

[greg]

sniff some coke

[Cambridge Scientist]

Lost all trust in this article when I read "University of Britain" at Loughborough.

"Loughborough University" is a well known university in Britain. Famed for its sports and related studies. Many of Britain's Olympic athletes and support crews have studied there.

If the source can't even be quoted right, how credible will the content be?

[AmericanU]

University of Britain? Are you mad? Do you have a University of America?

http://www.american.edu/index1.html

[Brad Isaac]

Ok, I've already noted and apologized for making the mistake in my reference to Loughborough University.

To further support the claim, how about PubMed?

I've changed the original to reference Loughborough University.

[PoopFace]

Yea there is an american university! Located in Washington D.C.
Go have a tea break fool.

[T. Johnston]

w00t! I'm trying this out today...

[Gemini6Ice]

Actually, caffeine simply blocks the nerve receptors that normally intake adenosine. When the caffeine wears off, you have even more adenosine in your body looking for nerve receptors to attach to, which explains the post-caffeine crash.

I did a research project in mathematical modeling on this a year ago.

[soubriquet]

There used to be an American University in beirut...
6.20 a.m..... I need the opposite of a caffeine nap.

[Teh ayatollah of rock and rollah]

What are you reading for?

[chris]

How does this work if you're unable to fall asleep, say, for the first 10-minutes? Does the 15-minutes start when you actually fall asleep or when you lay down?

[A. Ogata]

hmm and all this time i thought crystal meth was the best way to stay up...

[Big Cheez]

Wow, you need to delete some of those 3rd grade comments. Deleting a valid opposing opinion is one thing. Deleting trash is another. Right or wrong, I like your approach on a lot of stuff. If you expanded on your ideas and came up with more (original) ideas, I think you could write a book on productivity. I would buy it.

[greg-o-rino]

About a third of a century ago, when I was in college, this was accomplished using vivarin or no-doz, swallowing a couple tablets and hitting the rack. The stimulants made sure you didn't oversleep. Felt like being launched from a slingshot when you woke up.

[Llama]

Do you have to drink the coffee right away? It usually takes me like a half hour to finish a cup. Thoughts?

[miscblogger]

i've been trying to find a drug alternative to caffine to keep me awake. any ideas?

[David Spoey]

MiscBlogger...

If you want to stay productive and awake, you need to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD or narcolepsy.

Because the drugs prescribed for those disorders are (vitamin A) adderall, provigil, ritalin, and rarely methylamphetamine.

Vitamin A is my favorite substitute for caffeine. Try setting an alarm an hour before u have to wake up, take an adderall, go back to sleep, and let Vitamin A serve as your alarm clock. I guarantee you will awake spontaneously, warm and ready to bang out the day.

[Matthew John]

I'm one of the 140,000 Narcoleptics in the U.S., onset after taking 2 concussions in a 4-week period a few years ago... (a- no "drain-bamaged" jokes, please.. oh, what the hell, go ahead! b- how DO those football players keep going with multiple concussions, and WHY?)

Anyway, back on point. This condition makes it imperative for me always try new ways to increase aletness, and to be frank, consiousness. For about two years now, my morning routine has been to wake an hour earlier than needed, down a caffeine drink, sometimes a tablet, and go back to sleep... 35-45 minutes later I'm awake and Ready To Go.
On the official side, there's a great drug called modafinil (US:Provigil, CA:Alertec) which actually stimulates wakefulness without any of the other stims of speeders, including caffeine. Great stuff, $15/day for me... it's started to be prescribed for more things... everyone who's written about it says "YUP. It makes alertness better for just about anyone, sleep-disordered or not."

[Yeargh Matey]

Ahoy!

[cm]

Caffeine doesn’t clear your system–let’s just say brain–of adenosine, it blocks the adenosine receptors so that adenosine can no longer bind to them and, via a series of as yet not understood steps, make you sleepy. So the adenosine is still there, it just can’t do its thing (and of course this is all a matter of degree and dosage; some dose of caffeine blocks some proportion of adenosine receptors).

[David de la Fuente]

My dad always said to chew gum on long driving trips, that you couldn't fall asleep if your mouth was moving furiously. Can't wait to try the caffeine nap out, though.

[Brad Isaac]

hmm...gum? Good idea. I've also heard of people drinking milkshakes to stay awake too.

[Aeurix]

Gum doesn't work, but eat a can of beans before you take a long trip and I GAURENTEE you'll stay awake the whole trip. Nothing says WAKEUP like shitting your pants.

[Matt]

I just took a caffeine nap. I woke up feeling energized and in a really really bad mood. irritable, tense, anxious. Would not recommend it.

[Jeremy Tials]

What is the opposite of a caffeine nap? A unisom vigil? Cast one more vote/vouch for the nap/coffee - and I like jolt gum even better than coffee.

[Ryan]

You guys are all hillarious. I'm still laughing....
"I tried it ... its ok but the best method to stay awake is the classic "frustrated wank" ... just keep it hard and you´ll never fell asleep. cheers!!
;)"
lol

[Apesnake]

"coffein is crap, increases the risk of heart attack, stroke etc. I don't drink coffee at all."

Why bother with facts when you can make stuff up, right? I don't drink rose hip tea at all (since we are sharing things about ourselves). I kid cause I love.

as for:

"Actually, caffeine simply blocks the nerve receptors that normally intake adenosine. When the caffeine wears off, you have even more adenosine in your body looking for nerve receptors to attach to, which explains the post-caffeine crash."

and

"Caffeine doesn’t clear your system–let’s just say brain–of adenosine, it blocks the adenosine receptors so that adenosine can no longer bind to them and, via a series of as yet not understood steps, make you sleepy. So the adenosine is still there, it just can’t do its thing."

Isn't it the sleep that is supposed to clear out the adenosine levels not the caffeine? I can't tell you if it does or not, ask a doctorb (the b is for bargain)

As for the action of Caffeine and its metabolites, there is little biochemical difference from using caffeine and exercising with a certain degree of adrenaline. The whole adenosine competitive inhibitory deal prevents adenosine from sending inhibitory signals to the body so as to release less adrenaline. A second action is to keep cells from being less sensitive to adrenaline.

Sudden, extreme frenetic exercise is not a good idea any more than high doses (greater than being discussed in caffeine naps) of caffeine is but that does not make caffeine dangerous.

The side effects of pronounced caffeine abuse seem very similar to long-term extreme stress which makes sense to me because caffeine effectively prevents cells from partially "ignoring" levels of adrenaline signals as it normally would, thus mimicking a long-term elevated adrenal response (just like stress).

At any rate, caffeine wears off and we build up tolerance to it. Try getting 8 hours of sleep without the caffeine.

[Raj]

If you feel drowsy in the morning after waking up, have an apple instead of coffee. Its better than caffeine to wake you up.

[jessica]

Does it have to be coffee? Does black tea work as well?

[Brad Isaac]

I'm not sure how much caffeine is in black tea but if you could figure that out you could drink an equivalent amount. Your average cup of coffee has 100mg of caffeine.

[Hector Torvisque]

You chumps. I said University of America, not American University - the semantics of the thing are *quite* different. Go drink some coffee, Poopface et al.