Chocolate, Not Coffee

Into the gritty night you go, sneering at the need for rest before further flight. But rather than reheated FBO coffee in your hand, you hold … a chocolate bar?

jwanwest

Saturday, January 13, 2024 at 08:00 AM ET

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Macro chocolate pieces isolated against a white background

Key Takeaways:

The author, a fatigued pilot, discovered high-cocoa chocolate (85-100% cocoa) to be a more effective and sustained stimulant for flying than coffee.
Unlike coffee's quick, short-lived buzz, chocolate provided a slower-onset, longer-lasting mental clarity without jitters or the "biological imperatives" (restroom breaks).
This sustained stimulant effect is attributed to chocolate containing both caffeine and significant amounts of theobromine, a similar stimulant.
While helpful as a pick-me-up, the article emphasizes that high-cocoa chocolate is not a substitute for adequate sleep, and individual experimentation with brands is recommended.

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Back in the days when I had two children under the age of two, I was writing full-time plus instructing part-time. This left me getting as much sleep as the crew of Apollo 13 when they rounded the dark side of the moon.

Someone willing to look an IMSAFE checklist in the eye would have given up the flying jobs. But I couldn’t. Instead, I did what any young, headstrong and foolish pilot would do: I abused caffeine.