Touch and chocolate

It's the day of love and chocolate.

According to a 2024 meta-analysis of 137 studies that included almost 10,000 individuals, physical touch has moderate to large benefits to outlook, blood pressure, mobility, stress hormone reduction, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and pain and smaller benefits to sleep and heart rate.

From a Chinese medicine perspective, touching the skin is a pathway to benefitting the lungs, and stimulation of the muscles is a pathway to benefitting the stomach.

Research has shown that dark chocolate (70% +) has benefits to heart health, immune system regulation, diabetes, athletic performance, and stress reduction.

From a Chinese medicine perspective, dark chocolate's bitter/sweet combination creates a therapeutic balance. The sweet flavor relaxes and energizes while the bitter flavor dries and drains, preventing sweet from causing stickiness internally.

Do enjoy the benefits of safe touch and good chocolate today. (Don't buy cheap, bad chocolate. It's not benefitting anyone worth mentioning.)