Should You Be Drinking Coffee Before Power Naps?

Though drinking a cup of joe and then taking a nap might seem counterintuitive, Vox says you might want to reconsider this combination. In a video titled 'Scientists agree: Coffee naps are better than coffee or naps alone,' Vox asserts that this coffee and nap combination is more effective than napping or drinking coffee alone, citing a Japanese study in which subjects that took a 15-minute coffee nap made fewer errors in a driving simulator than they did with just drinking coffee or only taking a nap.

Vox explains that the buildup of adenosine is what makes us feel tired, and that caffeine blocks adenosine and sleep naturally clears out adenosine. Therefore, combining the effects of the two can feasibly support the idea of coffee naps. Additionally, as caffeine takes 20 minutes before it affects your brain, the 'coffee nap' takes advantage of this time by sleeping.

The timing on the 20 minute nap is key, as anything longer might cause sleep inertia or grogginess.