I'm quite suspicious about messing around with sleep too much. If you get up early, you'll eventually have to go to bed earlier, too. (Though apparently there's

I'm quite suspicious about messing around with sleep too much. If you get up early, you'll eventually have to go to bed earlier, too. (Though apparently there's no 1:1 relationship between sleep debt that you have to repay and time you spend being awake when you should be sleeping - you only have to make up a fraction of that sleep.[1]) The >only< sleep hack that seems to work (and I've tried many) is the 15-20 + coffee nap. You know how it is: you wake up, and for the next few hours tons and tons of distractions present themselves (and I don't mean trivial stuff like Twitter or emails and such). Eight hours or so pass, and you've only managed to deal with tedious administrative stuff or other non-critical work that won't count in the long run. By that time you're usually dead tired - so the trick I use is to have a normal-sized coffee really quickly, then nap for 15-20 minutes or so (not much less and certainly not much more). The effect of the coffee kicks in right when the effect of the extra sleep kicks in, and if you don't sleep too long you won't get the usual 'exhaustion' that comes from lengthy sleep. This trick has worked for me every single time (except when I was severely sleep deprived). It may not feel productive to have a nap when you should be working - and obviously it's not possible for everyone to do this - but I've personally found the extra energy and focus that you get invaluable. [1] "Sleepfaring" by Prof Jim Horne: http://www.amazon.com/Sleepfaring-Journey-through-Science-Sleep/dp/019922837X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346148161&sr=8-1&keywords=sleepfaring http://www.amazon.com/Sleepfaring-Journey-through-Science-Sl...