Ah, The Wonders of Science
I came across some old blogs I wrote four years for a blog I never got off the ground, and just as I was about to hit the delete button, I spotted one that I thought might be worth reviving.
Back in 2016 two scientists from London University, who apparently had nothing better to do, decided to find out why eating chocolate makes people smile. The first thing they discovered was that people smiled when they eat chocolate because it tastes wonderful (ah, the wonders of science). But their study did not stop there. Our two intrepid scientists took a look at a variety of chocolates, and eventually concentrated all of their attention on dark chocolate.
Their study of dark chocolate revealed that the darker the chocolate the tastier it was (ah, the wonders of science). They also found out that dark chocolate had a slew of health benefits. Dark chocolate, it turns out, is loaded with antioxidants which can lead to a 30% reduction in heart attacks and 50% in strokes.
They also found out that eating a half ounce of dark chocolate a day can doesn’t just keep the doctor away, it can also reduce the amount of mental health sessions you may have to attend.
That’s because dark chocolate contains gobs of serotonin and 2-phenelethylamine, two compounds that already occur naturally in the human nervous system. Serotonin is a household world these days, and if you’ve ever gone through your day feeling like a cast member of a George Romero film, you knew you were low on the stuff. Wouldn’t it have been nice to know that a half ounce of dark chocolate could’ve elevated your mood and put the smile back in your life?
Well, now you know what to do the next time you wake up and start feeling as if you’re living in a cesspool, providing of course, it’s not family members or friends causing that living in a cell pool feeling. In that case just put distance between you and the people causing your grief, then have a piece of delicious dark chocolate, because you don’t want to miss out on an extra boost of 2phenelethylamine, the compounds that is responsible for our infatuations and romantic love. Warning: over-indulging in dark chocolate could lead to infatuation over the boy or girl next door and cause you to start doing silly things, like buying them little gifts and excessive blushing.
To summarize, the scientists recommend a half ounce of dark chocolate (the darker the better) a day to reap the health benefits and improve your outlook on life. But they do warn that just like everything else in life that is overdone, overindulging in dark chocolate will definitely show up on the bathroom scale, and probably in a few other places you would rather it not. If you happen to be watching your weight, or waistline, the London University scientists suggest you enjoy the half ounce of dark chocolate a day, for the health benefits of course, then go for a brisk walk or a bicycle ride.
So now that everyone will soon know about all the great stuff dark chocolate can do for the heart and the spirit, I hope to see a lot of smiling people this holiday season, but just to be on the safe side, I will be carrying a few bars of chocolate with me in case I should run into any gloomy people.
