What is a Caffeine Nap?

We all know that a good night's rest can help us stay healthy, feel energized, and keep us going but we all also know that in today's fast paced world 7-8 hours of sleep per night is not often readily available. Between long work days or schoolwork, social and extracurricular activity, and a wealth of distractions it can be hard to shut down and get some sleep.

Of course us humans are very adaptive and have found many ways to 'replace' sleep or at the least put off that need to sleep until later. Most of these ways are not natural and involve some sort of stimulant that can leave us needing more and more to stay away. Some ways don't involve stimulants but elude most people such as mediation and relaxation techniques. So what do most of us do besides guzzle down caffeine when we want to recharge a bit without outside help? We nap.

Ah the nap, a staple of the kindergarten classroom and the college dorm room yet so elusive to everyone past those stages. When we are tired and have time we want to sleep for as long as we can which only throws off our sleep cycle more, and yet we struggle to find the perfect amount of napping that works for our own body. The average recommended power nap time is between 15-25 minutes depending on your body; naps longer then 40 minutes generally lead to REM or deep sleep which means if interrupted we feel groggy and have essentially wasted our nap.

A new trend is coming about in the world of napping and has many people wondering about it and others concerned about it. This new kind of napping is referred to as 'Caffeine Napping' or a 'Caffeine Nap'. Search the internet and you'll quickly find link upon link about caffeine napping, how to do it, the best methods, and even a Wikipedia page about it.

What is caffeine napping? The general idea is that because most people don't have the patience or time to experiment and find that perfect nap length of time for their own body, they can use a stimulant designed to keep them feeling awake as a way to help them nap. Right...your saying to yourself, a reverse energy drink or something? It isn't the latest new supplement rather it is regular old caffeine found in coffee, soda, and energy drinks.