We have been battling long lasting dry coughs for what seems like weeks now. We’ve tried everything: allergy medicine, nasal sprays, cough meds, Vicks, essential oils, a trip to the doctor. Still, the nighttime cough roars its head nearly every night. My current cough has kept me awake for days now.
While doing my nightly Google search for ways to calm it down, hoping one of these days I’ll find the missing hack I’ve been looking for, I found something interesting.
Someone said chocolate.
Of course my eyes widened and I started reading to find out if this could be possible. Immediately I did what everyone in my situation would do: field research.
I walked to the cabinet and grabbed a big handful of chocolate chips. Because, science.
As I continued reading I saw warm milk was helpful, too.
Put them together? Hot Chocolate.
Researchers at London’s Imperial College found that theobromine, a derivative in cocoa, suppresses coughs better than codeine! Theobromine works by suppressing vagus nerve activity, which is responsible for causing coughing. And of course, you get none of the drowsiness that comes from a lot of cough medicine.
I can’t believe I never knew this!
For these dry, itching coughs, milk is great because it calms down those irritants that keep causing you to cough.
So last night, I made my own little DIY hot cocoa concoction. In a mug, I broke up two pieces of my semi-sweet Ghirardelli baking chocolate. I added a bit of milk and melted it in the microwave.
Once it was melted, I stirred it up, added in more milk to fill the cup and added 1 tsp of sugar. It was creamy and delicious!
Now for the results. Did it work?
Well, in all honesty, I’m not quite sure. I can tell you that last night was the best sleep I’ve got and my cough was almost completely gone. BUT, I did several other things before going to bed last night so I can’t point the positive results with the cocoa.
As easy and delicious as this little cough trick is (paired with the research behind it) it is totally worth trying the next time you and your family are stuck with a nagging cough.
Liz is a just a mom trying to keep it real about how little she sleeps, how often she gets puked on and how much she loves them. You can find her here every day writing about real-mom moments.
