Easter is here and chocolate is everywhere – crowding shop shelves, piling up on desks, and likely already sitting in your pantry.

But if you’ve been finding it harder to sleep recently, late-night Easter eggs could be part of the problem.

That’s because some chocolate ingredients, including caffeine and sugar, may be sneakily impacting your sleep.

But if you love chocolate, you don’t have to give it up completely. Instead, here are some science-backed tips for enjoying it without sacrificing your sleep.

The science of chocolate

Most of us will agree that chocolate is delicious. This is because it’s made of tasty ingredients such as cocoa, cocoa butter and sugar.

But it’s more than just a sweet treat. Chocolate contains hundreds of naturally occurring compounds including mild stimulants, which are substances that make the mind or body more active. These stimulants can impact how well you sleep.

Here are three ingredients worth knowing about.

Sugar is one of the main ingredients in chocolate. When you eat high-sugar foods, such as chocolate eggs, your blood sugar levels tend to rise quickly. In response, your body releases insulin to bring those levels back down.

So if you eat chocolate in the evening,........

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