The Psychological and Physical Benefits of Eating Candy (2024)

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The Psychological and Physical Benefits of Eating Candy? ›

In fact, not only does it help us visualize the rewards, but it also enables us to take the action we need to achieve the reward. In addition to releasing dopamine in the brain, sugar also releases endogenous opioids. These are responsible for the wonderful surge of pleasure you feel when you eat a piece of candy.

While too much refined sugar is associated with health problems, there's plenty of evidence that moderate candy consumption can actually boost your wellbeing in a number of ways. Anyone with a sweet tooth already knows how some sour gummies or a piece of chocolate can reduce stress and improve your mood.

Help your Mood

Chocolate contains serotonin and phenylethylamine. These are natural antidepressants and can help stimulate your mood. Chewing gum has also been proven to reduce stress levels by lowering tension and releasing serotonin.

Emotional Comfort. Candy is often linked to emotional comfort, as many people turn to sweet treats during times of sadness or loneliness. The act of savoring candy can provide a sense of security and familiarity, reminiscent of the simple joys of childhood.

Consuming sour candy to alleviate a panic attack aligns with the approach of employing the five senses for grounding – what we hear, feel, see, taste, and smell. The method involves using physical and mental exercises to redirect your attention to the current moment and shift focus away from anxious thoughts.

When we eat sweet foods the brain's reward system — called the mesolimbic dopamine system — gets activated. Dopamine is a brain chemical released by neurons and can signal that an event was positive. When the reward system fires, it reinforces behaviours — making it more likely for us to carry out these actions again.

On the contrary, there are some surprising benefits of eating sweets. Whether you're thinking about boosts to energy or lowering levels of stress, sweets can help get you and your body through stressful moments, and in the right quantities can be beneficial to your overall well-being.

When you eat or drink too much sugar, the extra insulin in your bloodstream can affect your arteries all over your body. It causes their walls to get inflamed, grow thicker than normal and more stiff, this stresses your heart and damages it over time.

Sugar-free candies are available for those seeking sweets without added sugar. These candies are typically sweetened with sugar substitutes like stevia, xylitol, or erythritol. Popular examples include Smartsweets, Sugar-free Reese's, Lily's, and Candy People, sugar-free Swedish fish.

Thus, positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior is encouraged by rewards. If a child enjoys candy and cleaning the room is the desired behavior, the candy is a positive reinforcer (reward) because it is something that is given or added when the behavior occurs. This makes the behavior more likely to recur.

What are some physical traits of candy? ›

Candy is "a tall, stoop-shouldered old man … . He was dressed in blue jeans and carried a big push-broom in his left hand." His right hand is simply a stump because he lost his hand in a ranch accident.

Candy's Effect on Our Overall Health

Along with damaging our teeth and causing various oral health problems, candy can also impair our overall health. High in sugar, artificial chemicals, preservatives, and calories, eating too much candy can elevate your risk of: Weight gain.

Candy has long been associated with comfort and emotional well-being. In fact, research has shown that eating sugary treats can actually improve mood and reduce feelings of anxiety and stress. This is because sugar activates the brain's reward system, releasing feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin.

Benefits of Eating Candy

Feeling happy, relaxed and motivated isn't the only benefit of eating candy. Candy has some physical health benefits as well, including: Decreasing your risk of stroke and heart attack — Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidant flavonoids, which are healthy for your heart.

Research has shown that sugar can exaggerate the fear of negative outcomes commonly associated with anxiety. Also, because eating sweets can cause fatigue, blurry vision and fuzzy thinking, viewing situations objectively and make confident choices can be more difficult when we consume a high sugar diet.

According to many studies, sweets can help improve mood, support effective stress reduction. Because the hormone that leads to stress, glucocorticoid, will decrease when people eat sweets such as cake, suck on some candy.

Sugar leads to direct stimulation of the brain by triggering the release of dopamine, the “feel good” neurotransmitter. In fact, sugar's effect on the brain resembles that of highly addictive drugs like cocaine. This may explain why you crave something sweet (cookies, ice cream, etc.)

Candies, used judiciously, can serve as positive reinforcement and rewards in various contexts, from completing tasks to achieving developmental milestones. This creates a positive association with accomplishment and encourages positive behavior.