Caffeine power nap

All right, as a college student and coffee fan, I am always trying to adjust for a slightly erratic sleep schedule, and I read about this caffeine nap somewhere else online and recommend it. Basically, you make yourself some coffee (I make a big mug's worth, about 3 cups), drink it, and then take a 15-20 minute nap. During this time the coffee's going through your system, specifically your GI tract I think, and so when you wake up you not only have a nap boost, but a caffeine boost as well. It works for me, as I feel good waking up from one, and would be interested to know if anyone else has tried this and if it works for them as well.

[DocLogic77]

Yea, I read about this the other day...pretty decent idea. They say you should only nap 10-45 minutes or 90-120 minutes. If you hit that window in between you awake groggy. So, the caffeine would serve a couple purposes...it's an alarm clock and it gives you an instant boost. Terrific idea.

[ucla695]

I've never tried it because I have a low tolerance to caffeine and I wouldn't be able to sleep, but my wife does this all the time and it works really well for her.

[Mister Moo]

I have done this often on (boat) watch. It is esp. good if you have "nap-on" body chemistry and coffee that supports a fork.

[WyGuy]

Going to have to give this a try, especially on the days I have my 7:30am classes!

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

coffee that supports a fork.

Hahaha very good

Lived this way for the 8 years I was in the Army and the 3 years I was in school.
It does have it's drawbacks. Stomach especially will get torn up from the acid if you can eat a little something (i.e breakfast bar) and drink more water than you probably do normally. You'll have less return on investment if your drinking coffee/soda during the "normal" hours.
Alternate the power naps 15-30 minutes max otherwise your dragging butt to get moving but you have to adjust for you.
The old rule still applies lay off the caff 4-6 hours before you try to get real down time.
If your groggy mentally try the 5 hour enegy drinks - basically a Bcomplex megadose.
Just don't over indulge.

Originally Posted by DocLogic77

They say you should only nap 10-45 minutes or 90-120 minutes. If you hit that window in between you awake groggy

Yeah isn't that something? Lots of stuff your brain takes care of when it gets the chance I guess, I find this sort of thing pretty interesting. They told us in Psych that sleeping only gives your body about the same amount of energy as from eating a piece of toast, because it's more about your brain defragmenting and sorting stuff out than physically recharging. Crazy stuff.

Guess this would mean I stop drinking de-caf,,,,,mmmmm,,,on second thought I think I will stay away from the caffeine.

[GhostRyder]

I know a lot of Marines that do this on the regular. I just got into coffee and have some 8ams this semester. I'll have to give it a shot. Wednesday I was in class in my cammies and was sipping coffee. I passed out in mid sip, twitched, and dumped half a man-sized mug all over my cammies. It was pretty ridiculous. To make matters worse I was literally in the front of the class 6 feet from the teacher.

Pretty embarrassing. So, any strategy to stay awake I'm a fan of.

[Lumpold]

I used to live like this when I worked in bars, just without the napping rubbish... why waste time napping when you could be drinking more coffee?

I have to go to sleep after drinking coffee. It makes me soooo tired.