Power nap. Power. Nap.
Isn’t that for little kids in kindergarten?
Maybe you think napping is for lazy people?
You might, after all, we all have that one coworker which we swear spends four hours a day “napping”, as they like to call it.
If you have any such misconceptions, think again. Many scientific studies have reported that a power nap that is as short as 20 minutes can improve mental alertness, physical/psychological performance, and general mood. Here are some suggestions to get the most benefit from a power nap:
- Plan the nap at a proper time in your day; for many people, sometime between noon and 4 p.m. is best. Or whenever you get back from work or after several hours of mentally or physically exhausting work.
- Don’t sleep too long. This is important because a 20 to 40-minute nap will usually give you the boost you need without keeping you up at night.
- Like a (crappy) computer, you need time to boot up. Give yourself about 10 to 15 minutes to wake up fully before you resume doing something demanding.
But you probably knew this, so I want to share a little secret of mine. I have something better than a nap.
It’s actually better than just a cup of coffee!
It’s something amazing called, wait for it…
… a coffee nap!
A coffee nap is a combination of drinking a cup of coffee and then taking a nap right after.
Now at first, this might seem a bit weird. Coffee is something we use to stay awake for longer, how will that help anything at all. Well, because coffee actually takes a while to reach the brain. Depending on a few different things, it takes about 20 to 40 minutes for caffeine consumed to be caffeine absorbed and transported to the brain. This gives us a window of time where we can take our nap.
Once our alarm rings and our nap is over we can almost instantly jump into action because of the combined effect of caffeine and nap.
An important part of this trick is drinking the coffee almost instantly. It helps if it’s an espresso shot or ice coffee. You want to give yourself as much time to nap before the caffeine reaches your brain, which is generally 20 to 25 minutes for this trick. Once you’ve downed your coffee, set your timer/alarm between 20 and 25 minutes and get to nappin’!
Don’t worry if you have trouble with falling asleep fast. Studies have shown that even just being in a state of restful half-sleep improves the benefits of the nap.
3-Step guide
- Chug cup of coffee
- Set timer to 25 minutes
- Find a comfortable position and NAP
Bonus tip: The effects of sleep, in general, can be improved by sleeping with the legs raised slightly so they are above the level of your head while sleeping regardless of your sleeping position. This means that even if your sleeping in a chair, as long as your legs are above your head you will benefit from this bonus tip.
BILZERIAN LIFESTYLE 