If chocolate and coffee are two of your biggest vices, we have good news. Drinking mocha lattes has been found to improve attention spans, found a study by Clarkson University in New York. The researchers found that the combination of coffee and chocolate found in mocha was perfect for helping you stay focussed. Researcher Ali Boolani worked with the University of Georgia to examine 'the acute effects of brewed cocoa consumption on attention, motivation to perform cognitive work and feelings of anxiety, energy and fatigue'.
"Cocoa increases cerebral blood flow, which increases cognition and attention. Caffeine alone can increase anxiety. This particular project found that cocoa lessens caffeine's anxiety-producing effects", he said. In a study, participants drank either brewed cocoa, cocoa with caffeine, caffeine without cocoa, or a placebo hot drink.
Participants were then asked to do an array of tasks, that assessed their cognitive function and mood.
The researchers found that those who'd drunk plain cocoa made fewer errors linked to lack of attention. After adding caffeine to the cocoa too, 'cognitive effects' were enhanced and the 'anxiety-provoking effects' of drinking just coffee were reduced.
"The results of the tests are definitely promising and show that cocoa and caffeine are good choices for students and anyone else who needs to improve sustained attention", Boolani said, offering hope to struggling students across the world.
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