A Healthy Drink to Recover from the Effects of Stress and Anxiety

A Better Alternative to High-Fat Foods

If you're eating fatty comfort foods during stressful times, drinking cocoa is a healthy alternative that helps you recover faster from the effects of stress, according to a new study from the University of Birmingham.

Stress affects the body, at least temporarily, and eating fatty foods before or during a stressful episode can make the body need more time to recover.

A Healthy Drink to Treat Stress

However, according to "Medical News Today", drinking cocoa may help you recover faster from the physiological effects of stress, and is a better alternative to the high-fat foods that a person resorts to in this case.

In the study experiment, 23 healthy young men and women participated. Each of them ate a high-fat meal accompanied by either a cocoa drink an hour and a half before undergoing an 8-minute mental stress task.

Their vascular function was assessed by measuring blood vessel dilation, at the start of the experiment, by brachial blood flow, which indicates how much the artery widens when blood flow increases, and then after 30 and 90 minutes of the stress task.

Blood vessel dilation

In the cocoa group, blood vessel dilation by blood flow was lower at 30 minutes, and had already improved significantly by 90 minutes, suggesting faster recovery from the effects of stress.

According to lead researcher Catarina Rendeiro, “Highly stressful jobs can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 40% compared to those who are not exposed to these stressors. This may be due, at least in part, to persistent impairment of blood vessel function due to stress that is likely to become more permanent.”

Healthy compounds

Cocoa contains flavonoids that appear to protect blood vessel function from temporary impairment caused by stress, which can lead to high blood pressure and other problems.

Therefore, drinking cocoa helps to recover faster from the effects of stress on blood vessels.