Chocolate and Kissing Have the Same Effect on the Body, Researchers

A study in the UK shows that chocolate and kisses arouse the body and the mind in similar fashion though one of them out-stimulate than the other. Needless to say, I don’t need to tell you which one does better.

The team of researchers evaluated six couples and monitored their brain waves when standing with their eyes open, while kissing and while letting a piece of chocolate melt in their mouths. They measured the response of two types of brain activity the alpha bands and beta bands. Alpha bands are activated when you’re feeling relaxed beta bands in excited when you’re feeling alert but anxious. For those of you who enjoy, it is the beta bands that are stimulated when you had a cup

The observation from the study was that both kissing and chocolate eating increased the type of activity signaling alertness and relaxation, but in some individuals, chocolate produced a greater effect, which also lasted longer than that from kissing. At the same time, chocolate also dampened the activity of stress-registering beta bands more than kissing did. Of course you have to note that it likely less stressful to eat chocolate than to kiss in front of a team of researchers.

The conclusion from the study is that chocolate is more stimulating.

Scientifically speaking, this result should not be surprising. The major components in chocolate are sugar and fat, which our brains crave for.

Generally, foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt release dopamine in our brain, which produces a natural high.

Again, chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine which are both mental stimulants and phenylethylamine, an amino acid which raises our blood pressure and heart rate, and tryptophan, also an amino acid which helps release serotonin. In fact, recently, researchers in Switzerland reported that eating about 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate every day for two weeks reduced stress hormones.

So, if you don’t have anybody to kiss on valentine day, pass by a convenient store and get a bite of chocolate.

HAPPY VALENTINE

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