Interesting: The Caffeine Nap

I've done some long-distance driving in my life. When I lived in New Jersey, I would drive back to Minnesota in one, 24-hour shift. At times I got pretty sleepy and I know I've tried all the usual methods - hanging my head out the window, slapping my own face a few times, coffee, singing loudly along with the radio. All of which work for a couple minutes at best it seems.

Now comes new research on a possibly very effective method.

I found this on another blog, Achieve-IT!:

Sleep researchers at the Loughborough University in Britain did several tests on fatigued drivers to compare the effects of different methods for a driver can use to stay awake. They put the volunteers in driving simulators while they were sleepy and let them drive. Some of the tests included rolling down windows for cold exposure, blasting the radio and slapping oneself in the face to try to stay awake. But what researchers found worked the best was a Caffeine Nap.

The Caffeine Nap is simple. You drink a cup of coffee and immediately take a 15 minute nap. Researchers found coffee helps clear your system of adenosine, a chemical which makes you sleepy. So in testing, the combination of a cup of coffee with an immediate nap chaser provided the most alertness for the longest period of time. The recommendation was to nap only 15 minutes, no more or less and you must sleep immediately after the coffee.

There is more information at the Loughborough University Sleep Research Center website.