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{"id":16505,"date":"2014-08-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1399"},"modified":"2014-08-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T00:00:00","slug":"caffeinized-napping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/08\/caffeinized-napping\/","title":{"rendered":"Caffeinized Napping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

It has nothing <\/em>to do with any twinge of conscience about my coffee intake, but I\u2019m always intrigued by the latest research on caffeine. I\u2019m also always looking for whatever weapons I can find to defend the ancient habit of taking an afternoon snooze.<\/p>\n

When I see a headline containing the phrase \u201ccoffee nap,\u201d my heart skips a little beat.<\/p>\n

Turns out\u00a0that drinking coffee before a nap is a better pick-me-up than either coffee or napping by itself.<\/p>\n

It has to do with adenosine,\u00a0explains\u00a0<\/a>Joseph Stromberg at Vox.com. Adenosine makes us feel tired, but caffeine fits into and blocks receptors that are normally filled with adenosine. One scientist says that caffeine is like a \u201cblock of wood under one of the brain\u2019s primary brake pedals.\u201d But caffeine has to compete with adenosine for those spots on the receptors, as if, to continue the driving analogy, both are looking for parking spaces in an overcrowded city.<\/p>\n

Sleep also has an effect on adenosine \u2013 it clears it away, making us feel alert again. But if you sleep too long and too deeply, then you end up feeling like a slug, and it takes some time for the next cup of coffee to revive you.<\/p>\n

Stromberg says the solution is elegant, as all great ideas are: Drink a cup of coffee first, and \u201cif you nap for those 20 minutes, you\u2019ll reduce your levels of adenosine just in time for the caffeine to kick in. The caffeine will have less adenosine to compete with, and will thereby be even more effective in making you alert.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all I know or care, that may be completely bogus. Adenosine may be as mythical as the Lock Ness monster. But I\u2019m going to keep that in my back pocket and whip it out next time someone asks me why I\u2019m heating a cup of coffee just before pushing back the recliner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ll nap happily, knowing that two of the world\u2019s greatest joys \u2013 coffee and napping \u2013 aren\u2019t enemies but allies.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"