Coffee vs. Napping

I think virtually everyone has had the unfortunate experience of driving while drowsy and struggling to stay awake. But not everyone has pondered the best “quick fix” short of getting off the road for a full night’s sleep. This week the New York Times blogged about a new study in the medical journal Sleep that attempted to answer the question: is it better to drink coffee or take a nap?

Answer: coffee. But read on... how old you are is the deciding factor!

I wasn’t that surprised by this result. I think coffee can have quite a kick to it—more so than a short nap can. This is especially true in the short term. Had the researchers prolonged the drivers’ time on the road, however, passing the point at which the caffeine begins to wear off, I wonder how the results would be changed.

The most interesting discovery from the study, though, was that the effect of the coffee and napping varied by age.  Middle-aged people responded better to coffee, and younger-aged people (those between 20 and 25) found the nap to be nearly equally as good as the coffee.

This partly can be explained by the fact the younger people slept longer and more deeply than the middle-aged participants during the half-hour nap. So it makes sense, then, that the younger drivers gained more from their naps than the older drivers.

Pulling over to the side of the road to take a short nap does have its risks. More often than not, it’s simply not safe to just pull over and tune out—especially in remote areas where you don’t know if someone will approach you and cause trouble. While the sleep doc should be advocating the nap, I have to say coffee is more practical in today’s world. I just hope that those people who truly are sleep-deprived and unable to focus on the road do themselves good by calling a time-out and finding a safe place to rest up. Maybe even spend the night.

One thing that the researchers did not look at was my favorite of both worlds… the Caf-Nap. If you get the chance to look in my book Beauty Sleep, you will see this technique described, but let me give you the basics:

1)    Get a luke warm cup of drip brewed coffee.
2)    Drink the whole thing and then close your eyes.
3)    Nap for about 20-25 minutes.
4)    When you awaken the caffeine will be kicking in and you should have gotten enough rest to go for another 3-4 hours.

This is definitely something to keep in mind during the holidays. I’ve heard plenty of horror stories in past years about people who get on the roads to get home after partying and celebrating with friends and family. It’s an exciting—and draining—time of year, both physically and emotionally. You may not realize how much all those festivities wear you down until you’re dozing off unexpectedly on the highway.

Be safe.