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Care for a #nappuccino?
If a plain #nap just isn't doing enough for you, Banks does have another hack up her sleeve, one that will be especially exciting for #coffee enthusiasts.
"One of our team published a paper last year on the 'nappuccino'," she tells ScienceAlert. "It's basically having a coffee before you have a nap."
Why does this work? Along with other physical effects, #caffeine blocks a compound called adenosine from accumulating in our brains. Adenosine reduces the brain's firing rate, and helps us get to sleep; then, once we do sleep, it's whisked away to start the day (or afternoon) afresh.
So, coffee and sleep together makes you wake up even more refreshed than either alone. Banks loves coffee, and sees it as the easiest sleep hack we all have access to.
"It's a little bit boring in terms of a hack, but there are ways to more strategically use caffeine," she says.
"The average person has a big cortisol spike – a stress hormone – in the morning to get us going. That's a very normal thing. So, we actually don't need to have coffee first thing in the morning, but people want to have it because they feel a little bit sluggish."
Instead, having caffeine in the late morning would help you get through the afternoon, without keeping you awake throughout the night.
As with many other variable traits within our species, some people also just get lucky with their genetic sleep lottery.
"There is a big range – some people need more and some need less. There are some people who naturally can get by with a much shorter amount of sleep," says Banks. You can think of it like a spectrum, similar to normal ranges in height or weight.
"Now, those politicians that say they could get by on just a couple of hours sleep, I don't believe them. I think that maybe they're catching up on their sleep through naps or maybe being asleep in Parliament."
Again it all comes down to naps... even while making decisions for the nation.
Of course, getting less sleep and chugging coffee aren't just about maximizing productivity. Some people have insomnia or anxiety around sleep, and knowing that your health is incurring damage without the right number of hours is unlikely to help quieten the voices in one's head.
So it's reassuring to know that once you do get back to a normal sleep schedule, the brain has a surprising ability to bounce back – and many of the problems associated with sleep deprivation do actually get better.
"To follow up all that doom and gloom, when we change our sleep habits and get more sleep again, we also see that some of those mental and physiological effects go away," says Banks.
Edison, for what it's worth, would fall asleep under his desk or in meetings – sometimes he'd just pass out wherever he was. His wife installed a cot in the corner of his office so he'd at least have somewhere to lie down.
So, the next time you feel like a nap might be a waste of time, remember it's just the opposite. If you can get it, there's truly no better productivity hack than a quick nap.
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The #Science of a Good Nap
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-cult-of-the-sleepless
