Chocolate may help you sleep, says study

While some people rely on sleeping pills whenever they are unable to sleep at night, it turns out that there are better alternatives to help people get that much needed rest.

It turns out that eating dark chocolate may actually help a person reach lala land.

A study at the school of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh revealed that a vital nutrient found in dark chocolates help a person sleep better at night.

The study was headed by Dr Gerben Van Ooijen.

Magnesium, present in many foods such as dark chocolate, nuts, and green leafy vegetables, helps cells to cope in the body's circadian rhythm.

The circadian rhythm or internal clock is the one responsible for the different bodily functions such as sleeping, waking and temperature.

Speaking about it, Dr Ooijen said that internal clocks are fundamental to all living things. They influence many aspects of health and disease in our own bodies, but equally in crop plants and micro-organisms.

The team from University of Edinburgh and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge worked on three biological organisms — fungi, algae and human cells.

Researchers used molecular analysis and found levels of magnesium that oscillates as the cells undergo the 24-hour clock. This 24-hour rise and fall oscillation is vital to sustain the cell's energy for the whole duration of the day.

Surprisingly, the presence of magnesium in the cells also contributes to its metabolism or the efficiency of cells to convert nutrients into energy within the day. Magnesium also controls the burning of energy whenever the cells biologically need it.

Ooijen added, “It is now essential to find out how these fundamentally novel observations translate to whole tissue or organisms, to make us better equipped to influence them in complex organisms for future medical and agricultural purposes.”