The Claim: Chocolate Can Be Disruptive to Sleep

THE FACTS


Chocolate can stir affection and awaken the taste buds, but some people wonder if it can have a less pleasant side effect: keeping them up at night.

Chocolate contains caffeine, as many people know, but in varying amounts depending on the type. A 1.5-ounce Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, for example, contains nine milligrams, about three times as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. But a dark chocolate Hershey’s candy bar has far more: about 30 milligrams. That is the same as a cup of instant tea, and slightly less than a typical cup of brewed tea, about 40 milligrams.

In other words, a dark chocolate dessert, eaten late enough, might leave you counting plenty of sheep.

And chocolate has other stimulants. One is theobromine, the compound that makes chocolate dangerous to dogs and cats because they metabolize it so slowly. Theobromine, which increases heart rate and causes sleeplessness, is found in small amounts in chocolate, especially dark. The National Sleep Foundation recommends avoiding chocolate — as well as coffee, tea and soft drinks — before bedtime.

But there is an alternative. White chocolate does not contain any theobromine, and little if any caffeine.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Eating chocolate at night can potentially keep you awake.