No Way?!

Okay, I think about this a lot: Caffeine does not wake you up or give you energy. The way it works in your body is that it fits the same receptor as the hormone your body releases that makes you feel sleepy—so caffeine doesn't make you feel not-sleepy, it just prevents you from feeling sleepiness. Of course, there are a ton of placebo effects here: If you *feel* more alert, then well, you're going to be more alert! And that's okay, just not what is chemically happening. There's more: If you take caffeine right before you nap, you'll probably wake up feeling better rested. Again, the caffeine is blocking the sleepiness hormone, so you're getting the benefits of the rest fully *and* you don't have any lingering sleepiness (because the hormone was/is blocked)! This interaction with caffeine is the cause of the crash from drinking caffeine. If you're body needs sleep, but you're blocking the hormone that your body uses to put itself to sleep, you'll feel suddenly flooded with sleepiness as the caffeine wears off, but your body has been trying to sleep. (And of course, you definitely shouldn't have caffeine before you go to bed—you're just making it harder for your body!) So get plenty of sleep at night, enjoy your cup or two in the morning, and it's not counterintuitive to drink caffeine before a nap.