

How to Take a Caffeine Nap - feint
http://feint.me/2010/01/how-to-take-a-caffeine-nap/

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wrinklz
I took "caffeine naps" all the time in college, usually just before all-
nighters. Mind hacking was popular sport in the late 70's. I remember trying
one or two "blotter naps", also. Good morning!!

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samaparicio
Why mess so much with your sleep cycles? If you look at the long lives of
souther mediterraneans you don't see any of this stuff. Instead: good diet,
don't overwork, big naps.

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feint
In the Mediterranean especially were my Mum grew up in Italy, all the farmers,
who live long lives took naps in the afternoon. This is a common practice all
over the world

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bugs
It is a more common occurrence in warmer climates (mexico and the siesta) and
where the people undergo physical labor for work (such as farming).

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billswift
I have been out of work for all but 2 of the last 16 months. This have given
me time to do some experimenting (among other things). One thing I did was to
try to find the best dose of caffeine for me. I tried regular coffee, decaff,
and coffee and caffeine pills; several times and in different orders. With as
close to controlled conditions as one person alone could arrange, I discovered
that caffeine has _absolutely no effect_ on me. I could discern absolutely no
difference in alertness, learning (read a textbook chapter and did test at
end), or reaction time (simple video game). I already knew I didn't react
strongly to caffeine, hence the experimenting, but the result was a surprise.
Apparently all of the effects I had previously attributed to caffeine had been
placebo.

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ErrantX
He lost me at "sleep debt" I have to be honest. All the current research I've
read suggests there is no such thing (unless he just means "your a bit tired"
:) which he could well do).

Im not convinced this is a good idea though (I'd like to see a link to the
research he cites - done a bit of digging but I cant find it offhand).

Better to wake yourself up with Orang Juice and exercise.

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feint
The research: <http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/310/6979/565>

There is no such thing as a sleep debt in the sense that it accumulates over a
week. You could go days without sleep and only need 8 hours to get back to
perfect. However, in the course of a 24 hour period. If you only have 4 hours
of sleep you obviously have a sleep debt of 3-4 hours and need to take a power
nap or something

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staunch
On an empty stomach I find that strong coffee affects me faster than 20
minutes. More like 5 or 10 minutes.

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feint
yeah that can happen. I've also noticed a slight psychosomatic effect - even
straight after drinking coffee I feel more awake simply because I associate
coffee with alertness

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alanmeyer
why not just take the caffeine after the nap and avoid the risk? Does waiting
the additional 20 minutes for the caffeine to kick in really change the
benefit?

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feint
The idea is that the caffeine will stop you from feeling drowsy when you wake
up. Wheres the risk?

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toisanji
The risk is that if you want to fall asleep, but are unable to fall asleep
within 20 minutes then the caffeine will have kicked in thus wasting your time
trying to fall asleep

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wrinklz
I don't agree, even an "awake nap" can be refreshing.

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feint
yes absolutely. Its only risky if you are a polypahisc sleeper and rely on
these naps as part of your sleep

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z8000
Also, just being a polyphasic sleeper is risky.

