Boost your brainpower-drink coffee before taking a nap

A new study has found that having a cup of coffee before a nap can make you feel better after waking up, the Daily Mail reported. This is because a short period of sleep can help the brain clear the adenosine that causes drowsiness, while caffeine takes 20 minutes to work in the body, just when the nap wakes up.

The researchers, who call this pattern a "coffee nap", claim that drinking a cup of coffee before a nap can increase the effect of caffeine on the brain and improve memory. After drinking a cup of coffee, caffeine is absorbed by the small intestine, then into the body's blood, is transported to the brain, inhibiting the chemical "adenosine" receptor on the brain cell membrane. Adenosine produces a natural sense of fatigue, and when it binds to the receptor, it can cause drowsiness by slowing down the activity of nerve cells. "but when caffeine locks up the receptor, adenosine accelerates the activity of nerve cells. It takes about 20 minutes from drinking coffee to feeling not sleepy. " Joseph Stromberg explained.

The principle behind the coffee nap is that natural sleep removes the adenosine that causes drowsiness in the brain. This also means that you don't have to worry about coffee keeping you awake. In fact, taking a 20-minute nap after drinking coffee reduces the level of adenosine in the body, and caffeine starts to feel refreshing when you wake up.

Scientists have also conducted a series of experiments in the UK and Japan to prove the efficacy of coffee naps. For example, researchers at Loughborough University in the UK found that when subjects who were tired due to difficulty falling asleep experienced a 15-minute coffee nap, they made fewer errors in subsequent simulated driving.

Another independent study found that coffee naps can help people who don't get enough sleep to walk for a long time. Young people at the age of 24 who had not slept for a long time participated in the experiment. They need to walk for 24 hours without enough sleep, taking only a short nap. The researchers divided them into two groups, one taking a coffee nap and the other taking a placebo before the nap. It turned out that the coffee drinking group performed better.