
If you often feel tired during the afternoon but you're not one of the lucky people who can rest during the afternoon, the caffeine nap or coffee nap might save you.
It has already been proven that power naps (naps that last about 20-30 minutes) are more regenerating than 1-hour sleep. Power naps minimise sleep inertia (that annoying feeling that often occurs after a long period of sleep), enhance alertness, improve mood, boost cognitive functions and don't affect nighttime sleep.
The caffeine nap is an enhanced version of the power nap. It consists of drinking coffee before rest. Even though it might seem counterintuitive (coffee before sleeping? what?), it has shown incredible results. The key reason behind its effectiveness is that caffeine kicks in when you wake up.
How: The best would be to drink an espresso shortly before the nap and fair quickly. I always avoid the sugar in the coffee (the reasons are so many to deserve a post themselves) and use sweetener aspartame-free or coconut sugar (very sweet with a very low glycemic index).
When: When you need to recharge your batteries, preferably 5 hours before bedtime.
For how long: I usually reserve a 20-25 minute slot.