Having A ‘Nappucino’ May Be The Secret To Being More Productive
Have you ever thought of combining two of the things that we love the most?
It is known that the human body goes through two natural temperature "slumps" per day. The slump we don't notice is the one that happens around 3 a.m. when most of us are sound asleep, but the one we do notice is also known as the post-lunch "food coma."
You know the feeling—a drowsy, sleepy, productivity-sucking crash that seems to eliminate your chances of getting anything done.
One productivity expert says he has the fix and it's called the "Nappucino."
We know that a quick nap can help with the drowsiness that hits us during that mid-afternoon slump, but have you ever tried pairing that nap with coffee?
The research is out on all the benefits of naps, but after author Daniel Pink experimented for months with twenty-minute naps this is his suggestion for true power napping:
- Keep your naps between 10 and 20 minutes long. After 20 minutes of snoozing, people wake up groggy and take some time to recover to a truly alert state. If you keep your nap to under 20 minutes, you'll wake up refreshed and ready to think.
- Before you nap, drink a cup of coffee. "The caffeine won't fully engage in your bloodstream for about 25 minutes, so drink up right before you lie down," Pink wrote in the book. Plus, there's new evidence the benefits of sipping a pre-nap coffee go beyond simply keeping you alert when you get up.Research published in the journal Scientific Reports in February suggests that drinking coffee can actually improve your brain's ability to process more complex information.
- Time your nap around 2 or 3 p.m. If that doesn't feel like your groggiest afternoon moment, Pink suggested another way to calculate your slump is roughly seven hours from when you wake up in the morning.
- Finally, don't feel guilty about your mid-day snooze session. As Harvard Medical School points out, "The well-timed nap can make you more productive at work and at home." So go ahead and enjoy your shut-eye. Just make sure you don't oversleep the 25-minute window and wake up groggy and decaffeinated.
Is this something you plan on trying? Not all people can do coffee, and not all people (insomnia sufferers, etc.) can do naps—but could this be the secret to you being more productive?
If you have any secrets that sound similar to this one, please don't hesitate to share with the class.