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Coffee before napping is more refreshing than napping

Published: 2026-01-16 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/01/16, A cup of coffee before a nap can make you feel better when you wake up from a nap, a new study has found. This is because short sleep helps the brain clear adenosine, which causes drowsiness. At the same time, because caffeine takes 20 minutes to work in the body, which is when the nap ends, you wake up with a better mental state. study

Drinking a cup of coffee before a nap can make you feel better after a nap, a new study has found, the Daily Mail reported. This is because a short period of sleep can help the brain clear the adenosine that causes drowsiness, and at the same time, because caffeine takes 20 minutes to work in the body, and the nap is just over, so you have a better mental state when you wake up.

The researchers, who call this pattern a "coffee nap", point out that drinking a cup of coffee before a nap can increase the effect of caffeine on the brain and improve memory.

Every time people finish a cup of coffee, caffeine is absorbed by the small intestine and then into the body's blood and transported to the brain, inhibiting the "adenosine" receptor, a chemical on the brain cell membrane. Adenosine produces a natural sense of fatigue, and when it binds to the receptor, it slows down the activity of nerve cells, making people sleepy. "but when caffeine locks the receptor, adenosine accelerates the activity of nerve cells." Joseph Stromberg explained.

It takes about 20 minutes from drinking coffee to feeling not sleepy

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 can significantly lower the level of adenosine in the body, and caffeine starts to have a refreshing effect 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.