Power Nap with Caffeine Boost

Have you ever found yourself starting to fade during an insanely busy day? You know, those days where it feels like you are sleep deprived? I came across an interesting article from Wired's How To Wiki:

Scientists say that a successful midday nap depends on two things: timing and (no kidding) caffeine consumption. Experiments performed at Loughborough University in the UK showed that the sleep-deprived need only a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of shut-eye to feel amazingly refreshed.

1. Right before you crash, down a cup of java. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.
2. Close your eyes and relax. Even if you only doze, you'll get what's known as effective microsleep, or momentary lapses of wakefulness.
3. Limit your nap to 15 minutes. A half hour can lead to sleep inertia, or the spinning down of the brain's prefrontal cortex, which handles functions like judgment. This gray matter can take 30 minutes to reboot.

I'm looking forward to my next siesta!

On a different note, but still on the subject of sleep, experts at the 2006 National Institute of Health Consensus Conference agreed on the following recommendations for obtaining optimum sleep value:

• Do not take sleeping pills. This includes over-the-counter pills and melatonin.
• Don't go to bed until you're sleepy. If you have trouble sleeping, try going to bed later or getting up earlier.
• Get up at the same time every morning, even after a bad night's sleep. The next night, you'll be sleepy at bedtime.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep, get out of bed and return only when you are sleepy.
• Avoid worrying, watching TV, reading scary books, and doing other things in bed besides sleeping and sex. If you worry, read thrillers or watch TV, do that in a chair that's not in the bedroom.
• Do not drink or eat anything caffeinated within six hours of bedtime.
• Avoid alcohol. It's relaxing at first but can lead to insomnia when it clears your system.
• Spend time outdoors. People exposed to daylight or bright light therapy sleep better.

Article: [Wired How To Wiki]
-steve