WMF UK Coffee Machines Blog

How coffee can improve your sleep

09-Nov-2018 12:31:26 by WMF Marketing Team

Sleeping on desk

Due to the high caffeine content in coffee, it’s universally considered to be a great tool for staying alert during the day, or for staying up late for people who work shifts or students studying for exams. Have you ever thought though that the caffeine present in your favourite coffee drink could actually improve the quality of your sleep? This is not only possible, but according to scientists, under certain conditions combining coffee with sleep can improve the effectiveness of both.

 

How coffee naps work

A coffee or caffeine nap works by simply drinking a coffee directly before taking a nap. This may sound counterintuitive as you would think that the caffeine would stop you from being able to sleep, but it takes a little while for it to take effect, and you use that time to fall asleep. As your body starts to feel the energising effects of the coffee, you wake up from your nap feeling extra alert. It was thought that this was due to combining the re-energising power of a nap with the extra boost of caffeine, but scientists have observed that drinking coffee before a nap can make both aspects more effective.

 

Backed by science

The mechanism that scientists believe causes this is due to the way both sleep and coffee drinking have on a molecule called adenosine. This is a molecule that is a by-product of heavy brain activity, and as the adenosine levels rise, they plug into receptors in your brain which make you feel tired. This is why a busy day at work can feel so draining, even though you may have been sat down all day. Caffeine works by travelling to your brain through your blood stream and blocking these receptors, which stops the adenosine from plugging into them, thus helping you stay alert. By sleeping, your body naturally starts to clear out the adenosine from your brain, which boosts the effectiveness of the coffee, and the caffeine blocking the adenosine receptors in turn improves the quality of the nap.

 

Get the timing right

Alarm clockTiming is key with this however, which is why it’s important to only use caffeine for short naps, ideally a 15-20 minute power nap. This is because sleeping for longer than 30 minutes would take you into what’s known as slow-wave sleep, which can lead to experiencing sleep inertia, the drowsy and disoriented feeling you sometimes get after sleeping for too long. If you’re trying to nap to improve your energy levels, this would obviously be counter-productive! The time of day could also be important, as researchers have found that the best time for a nap is at least 6 hours before bedtime, so you’re better off going for a mid-afternoon snooze than trying to nap when you get home from work.

Many companies are now actively encouraging staff to nap at work as they have realised how useful it can be for increasing productivity and avoiding mid-afternoon drowsiness. If you work in a business that lets you have a sneaky power-nap, make the most of it with an espresso from our compact and versatile WMF 1100 S coffee machine first.


Download  a brochure to see the full range of WMF coffee machines and related products.

 

Topics: Coffee Culture, Coffee nap


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Written by WMF Marketing Team

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