Coffee + (short) Nap = new, improved Coffee Nap

November 29, 2018 7:51 AM

Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone (short Vox explainer video; related article with links to the three studies cited)
posted by filthy light thief (26 comments total)

I tend to do the nap, then the coffee ... at which point, I really enjoy the coffee. This way, science be damned, it feels like I'm sacrificing that pleasure in the interests of cold hearted higher productivity.
posted by philip-random at 8:01 AM on November 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

I think the only "magic" of coffee naps are that you are refreshed from your 20 minute nap by the time the caffeine kicks in.

If you are taking a coffee nap, make sure you don't sleep too long, or you'll experience sleep inertia and undermine the benefits of the coffee.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:05 AM on November 29, 2018 [8 favorites]

Pretty sure Winston Churchill didn't fuck around with coffee naps.

You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed.

More like a Johnny Walker nap.
posted by Nelson at 8:20 AM on November 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

I pretty much only drink coffee if I'm either at work or driving and getting too tired to function. Those seem like bad times for naps.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:23 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

So instead of hitting the snooze button should my initial alarm clock be the coffee brewing, which I proceed to chug and go back to bed afterwards?
posted by XMLicious at 8:27 AM on November 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

This is very pleasing news to me.
posted by gwint at 8:30 AM on November 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

So instead of hitting the snooze button should my initial alarm clock be the coffee brewing, which I proceed to chug and go back to bed afterwards?

See: the Teasmade
posted by BungaDunga at 8:30 AM on November 29, 2018 [7 favorites]

The video confesses there isn't a lot of research to support their recommendation, so nah.

I have a quadruple espresso in the mornings to focus, but can't drink coffee after the morning or my night time sleep is affected, and I rarely want to nap in the morning. However, I've trained myself to take a 20-minute nap (with an Insight Timer sleep "meditation") in the afternoons and even without coffee, those naps really do the trick.
posted by Peach at 8:33 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I recall hearing about this over ten years ago, and I implemented the theory in the "quiet room" my workplace at the time. There are worse ways to spend a 30 minute break.

I think the only "magic" of coffee naps are that you are refreshed from your 20 minute nap by the time the caffeine kicks in.

This was actually the precise benefit I remember cited at the time. The idea was that the caffeine serves as a sort of natural alarm clock and wakes you gradually from your nap right before sleep inertia starts kicking in.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well, my kids call me Nap King Cole. I usually drink a Diet Coke before a nap so I was doing this without knowing it is a thing. However, most of the time I outsleep my DC. I take 60 minute naps with the feeling (and actuality) of having to pee serving as my alarm clock, not the caffeine.
posted by AugustWest at 8:48 AM on November 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

See: the Teasmade

OMG, the Victorian-era one powered by mechanical clockwork and flammable gas! Your house exploding after the gears and valves rust a bit would wake you up better than any stimulant drink.
posted by XMLicious at 8:55 AM on November 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

I just want a society that incorporates naps into the workday, period.
posted by Anonymous at 8:58 AM on November 29, 2018

I can nap anytime, coffee no coffee whatever. I like having a late night coffee before going to bed, sometimes it seems like it makes me sleepy. On the other hand my coffee cycle is usually about a month of starting from zero slowly increasing till I am drinking too much of it and then back to zero cold turkey. I know I am drinking too much when I get snapish and aggrieved. I'll try an experiment this afternoon.
posted by Pembquist at 9:05 AM on November 29, 2018

I feel like this is somehow announced as a new discovery every few years. I remember first hearing it when I started going to uni and here it is, more than 10 years later.

As my caffeine tolerance has improved (?) over the years, I've found that I can get similar results with tea and a nap. Perhaps having a warm beverage in my tummy helps me get the nap going. Has anyone else had this effect?

Edit: Ninja'd right here:

Pembquist: "I like having a late night coffee before going to bed, sometimes it seems like it makes me sleepy."
posted by andycyca at 9:05 AM on November 29, 2018

Lifehacker Feb 2006 - Take a Caffeine Nap
Lifehacker Sep 2018 - Take Better Naps By Drinking Coffee First

Not sure how I feel about the internet on the second reading.
posted by ominous_paws at 9:16 AM on November 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

The video confesses there isn't a lot of research to support their recommendation

ha! good one
posted by thelonius at 9:19 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

where does microdosing fit into all this?
posted by logicpunk at 10:43 AM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Well, you all need to try the cocaine nap!
posted by greenhornet at 10:49 AM on November 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

I thought for ages that caffeine worked like that for everyone. I have a cup of tea and then immediately pass out for like 20-30 minutes and wake up feeling pretty okayish? Maybe even good? sorcery
posted by poffin boffin at 11:14 AM on November 29, 2018

i unknowingly do this at work all the time. we're pretty lax around here and people tend to doze off at their desk whenever they need to. in the afternoon i get groggy and i usually go and get my daily starbucks, but what i've discovered is that i still doze off at my desk as i'm drinking the coffee, but then after a short while i'm really refreshed and clearer-headed. i used to just have to coffee and make myself stay awake and that just made me less productive.
posted by numaner at 11:25 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Can confirm, based on 30 years as a road warrior. Due to my constant air travel (on planes at least twice a week), I was usually bumped up to first class. I’d get a cup of coffee from the flight attendant before take-off, sleep soundly for the whole flight and then wake up completely refreshed.

Once I discovered how well this approach worked for me, I never made coffee at home before departing for the airport an hour’s drive away, not even when I had to leave at 4 am: not worth it.
posted by carmicha at 11:37 AM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

tired: coffee naps
wired: Adderall naps
posted by neckro23 at 12:23 PM on November 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

They say that you should take Adderall while working on the thing that you really want to focus on, because that's the thing the Adderall will make you laser focus on.

If true, then an Adderall nap will lead to hours of alert hyperfocusing on napping.
posted by naju at 1:37 PM on November 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

"I think the only "magic" of coffee naps are that you are refreshed from your 20 minute nap by the time the caffeine kicks in. "

I mean, what else would be the supposed reason to do so? I've been doing coffee 20-minute naps for years and they are wonderful. Non-coffee naps have a higher risk I'll sleep through my alarm or succumb to temptation and hit the snooze. Sometimes I can even feel it kick in right before the alarm and can avoid the stress that comes with the noise, which is a double bonus in my mind.

The only curious thing about the coffee-nap thing is that I sometimes am drinking coffee late into the night but have never once had trouble falling asleep. Maybe it's because the coffee-nap involves me drinking a thing of coffee all at once rather than just sipping my coffee-water-tea mixture in my cup throughout the ages.
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:06 PM on November 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I find this impossible. The smell of coffee by itself acts like a stimulant to me (placebo effect surely). By the time I’ve drunk a whole cup there’s no way I’m going to be able to fall asleep for a nap.
posted by dis_integration at 8:08 PM on November 29, 2018

I thought caffeine late at night made for a bad sleep. Like maybe you can fall asleep, but your brain is not really going to properly rest.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 8:09 PM on November 29, 2018