Getting a good night’s sleep also has a variety of health benefits—it can help lower your risk for heart disease and diabetes, improve your immune system, reduce stress and help you think more clearly. So what can you do to improve your sleep quality and improve your health?
Sleep experts often recommend a warm drink before bed to help you drift off to sleep. Warm milk and chamomile tea are two of the drinks that often come to mind, but does hot chocolate help you sleep as well?
It may sound too good to be true, but drinking hot chocolate before bed can actually help you sleep better. This sleep remedy was first cultivated by the Mayans, who prepared their hot cocoa by roasting cacao beans and adding hot water and spices.
Why does hot chocolate make you sleepy? For one thing, warm drinks offer a feeling of comfort and relaxation. These feelings have more to do with a mental association than a physical one. Drinking hot cocoa before bed has a comforting, therapeutic association that can put you in the right frame of mind to fall asleep.
In the same way the tryptophan in turkey on Thanksgiving Day makes you sleepy, the tryptophan in chocolate induces the same reaction. Tryptophan is an amino acid that stimulates serotonin and melatonin, which help you relax and fall sleep. If you want to heighten the effect, add almond milk to your hot chocolate—it also contains tryptophan.
A recent study found that drinking hot chocolate before bed can help reduce stress and anxiety. Anxious thoughts at bedtime can increase blood pressure, and higher blood pressure makes falling asleep or staying asleep difficult. And people who suffer from insomnia often suffer from higher blood pressure. One of the health benefits of dark chocolate is lower blood pressure, so it makes sense to drink a warm cup of hot chocolate before bed to lower blood pressure and promote sleep.
Another study found that cocoa helped stressed out mice sleep better. Researchers noted the benefits of cocoa on insomniacs and those with circadian sleep disorders induced by stress.
The source of the health benefits in dark chocolate is found in its antioxidants. Raw chocolate contains even more antioxidants, so for maximum effect, dissolve raw chocolate into hot milk for a warm, chocolatey bedtime drink.
Some of the health benefits of hot chocolate before bed include the following:
- Improves heart health: The antioxidants in chocolate protect against heart disease, lower bad cholesterol, improve good cholesterol and lower blood pressure. The calcium and Vitamin D in milk can reduce blood pressure as well.
- Decreases risk of stroke: Both dark chocolate and milk have been shown to reduce stroke risk.
- Brightens skin: Contrary to popular myths about chocolate being bad for your skin, the flavonoids in chocolate actually improve and brighten your skin.
- Acts as a cough suppressant: The theobromine in chocolate helps quell coughing.
- Lowers risk of diabetes: Chocolate improves insulin sensitivity, which in turn helps control blood sugar and reduces the risk of diabetes. Cocoa powder is rich in theobromine, which also offers protection from diabetes.
- Provides relief from PMS relief: Chocolate can boost your mood and reduce anxiety and depression.
- Offers cancer prevention: Chocolate contains antioxidants and theobromine that may help protect against cancer.
- Reduces inflammation: Antioxidants and theobromine help reduce inflammation and improve your immune system.
Now that we’ve established that drinking hot chocolate before bed can help you sleep, it’s important to note that not all hot chocolate drinks are equal when it comes to promoting a good night’s sleep. If you add sweeteners or sugar to your hot chocolate, the high sugar content will counter the benefits of the chocolate and will not do much to induce sleep. Commercial hot chocolate is high in sugar and calories, which can have a detrimental effect on overall health. Making your own hot chocolate drink by melting dark chocolate, cacao nibs or unsweetened cocoa powder into hot milk will produce the best results both for sleep and for your health.
But what about the caffeine in chocolate? Won’t it counter any benefits and keep you awake? The short answer—no. Hot chocolate typically contains about 5 milligrams of caffeine per cup, which is less than an average cup of decaf coffee. If you’re still worried about consuming stimulants too close to bedtime, just breathe in the scent of chocolate instead of eating it—the smell of chocolate can be enough to relax you and create a feeling of calm.
At Cococlectic, we feature a different American small-batch bean-to-bar chocolate maker each month in our online bean-to-bar subscription club. These craft chocolate makers are passionate about their craft and create their chocolate bars from scratch using only three main ingredients: cacao beans, sugar and cocoa butter. This maximizes the health benefits, including promoting better sleep.
Our chocolate at Cococlectic is vegan, non-GMO, fair-trade and ethically sourced and does not contain any soy, gluten, dairy or nuts. However, the chocolates may be produced in a facility with these ingredients.
Sign up today for the subscription club and join us for a free virtual chocolate tasting with our featured chocolate maker of the month.