DPP’s Puma Shen sparks discussion on coffee napping
By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) comment that he relied on “coffee napping” to stay alert during his campaign has sparked discussion about the practice’s health effects.
On Sept. 21, Shen told reporters that he has been getting only three hours of sleep per day and that he drinks coffee before napping for short periods to keep himself energized.
Drinking coffee before napping can provide a short-term energy boost, Chinese-language SET News cited family medicine doctor Neil Lee (李思賢) as saying.
An illustration picture shows a coffee cup and roasted coffee beans in Brussels, Belgium, in an undated photograph.
Photo: Reuters
Caffeine takes effect about 20 to 25 minutes after consumption, which means a fatigued person can sleep briefly and wake up just in time to be reinvigorated by the substance, he said.
The practice, dubbed “coffee napping,” has been popular in the West for quite some time, but its effectiveness comes with caveats, he added.
Sleep is divided into three stages: N1 and N2 are shallow sleep and N3 is deep sleep, SET News reported.
Interrupting N3 sleep increases drowsiness and fatigue, so a person taking a nap after coffee should sleep for 20 minutes or less to prevent waking up at that stage, it reported.
Although brief rest can bring about a temporary feeling of well-being, it cannot substitute for real sleep or make up for long-term exhaustion, Lee was cited as saying.
“People feeling tired after long periods of exhausting work or a night of poor-quality sleep should rest for a full sleep cycle of 90 minutes, a luxury most office workers sadly cannot afford,” he said. “Nevertheless, even a quick afternoon nap can restore short-term memory and relieve exhaustion.”
The Ministry of Health and Welfare recommends that adults limit their daily caffeine intake to no more than 300mg.
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