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How Does Chocolate Help Anxiety?
People are always looking for natural treatments to fight stress and anxiety. Medications can be costly and often come with harsh side effects but there is an easy way to unwind that is quick and safe. Eat a functional chocolate bar. We pack the dark chocolate in this bar with ingredients that help
What Research Says about Chocolate ?
The captivating aroma of chocolate lifts your mood. The indulgent taste soothes your anxiety. The combination of aroma and taste helps calm your stress and anxiety. When you feel overwhelmed, delving into a dark chocolate bar is a great way to get relief.
Ways Chocolate Helps with Anxiety
1. Contains Natural Mood Lifters
Chocolate works with two natural chemicals in your body to communicate feelings of pleasure to the brain: serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin is a “natural mood stabilizer”. Increased serotonin levels in the body help regulate anxiety.
Chocolate also affects our levels of dopamine. This natural chemical controls the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. An increase in dopamine levels is what makes us feel good when we eat chocolate.
Chocolate helps anxiety with another ingredient called theobromine. This is the ingredient that is toxic to dogs. However, it has a positive, mood-elevating effect on humans
2. Offers Light Caffeine
Caffeine is not always bad. Many people claim that it causes anxiety, but most studies show it only leads to anxiety when consumed in high amounts. When consumed in low or moderate amounts, it reduces the effects of anxiety.
3. Contains Magnesium
Recent studies conclude that magnesium is one of few nutrients that have a significant effect on anxiety. People take magnesium supplements, however, consuming it through food is a healthier option.
A great way to get more magnesium is by eating dark chocolate. It contains magnesium in larger amounts than milk chocolate.
The Darker the Chocolate, the Better
You should note the same effects aren’t seen with milk chocolate. Many people rate milk chocolate as more pleasurable than dark chocolate, but milk chocolate has less nutritional value. It contains high levels of sugar, which could worsen your anxiety.
Chocolate helps anxiety the closer you get to the purest form of the chocolate. Also, the less sugar the chocolate has, the better.
Unsweetened dark chocolate can taste very bitter. So, try a slightly sweeter or semi-sweet dark chocolate bar with 60% cocoa in it. Your taste buds will adjust and soon you’ll find yourself craving it.
Other Tips to Manage Anxiety
If you are dealing with anxiety regularly, there are other ways too to calm your mind and cut down on the stress.
• Execrcise: Exercising is an important part of your mental health. It helps ease feelings of anxiety. Exercising helps to boost your sense of well-being. Break off a small piece of a rich chocolate bar and let it dissolve in your mouth after you work out. This increases your feelings of pleasure and satisfies post-workout cravings.
• Sleep well: Make sure you sleep well. Both quantity and quality are important for a good sleep. An average of 8 hours of sleep is required at night, so make that your nightly goal.
• Muscle relaxation techniques: Sit in a quiet comfortable place. Tense your muscles up, then release them. You can do this with your hands, shoulders, legs, and feet.
• Drink more water: Dehydration causes anxiety, so make sure you stay well hydrated.
Summary
Many studies show that chocolate helps reduce the effects of anxiety. Remember that dark chocolate is the only functional chocolate. The more natural the chocolate, the more likely it is to have the nutrients that help with anxiety.