Want to get the most out of your acupuncture treatment? Of course you do!

Here’s an easy–at least I think it’s easy–step you can take prior to your acupuncture session with me, particularly if your treatment is to address pain, stress, or anxiety. Skip the caffeine.

No, I’m not saying you have to give up your coffee or tea altogether, but just don’t have any within a few hours of your time on my table. Why? Because some studies (like this one and this one) show that caffeine can interfere with one of the pathways that makes acupuncture effective as an analgesic (pain reliever). And, because caffeine is a stimulant, it counters some of the calming effects of acupuncture. If you’ve chilled, drifted, snoozed, or even snored on my acupuncture table, then you know the surprisingly relaxing effects of an acupuncture needle.

But before I skip to other ways you can best prepare for your next acupuncture session, let’s learn a bit more about the fascinating caffeine molecule.

Interesting Facts About Caffeine

With about 72% of Canadians drinking coffee daily (at an average of 2.8 cups per day), about 48% of Canadians drinking tea daily, and others having energy drinks or caffeine pills, caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. Don’t think of caffeine as a drug? Well, it absolutely is.

I recently read a book by Michael Pollan called “This is Your Mind on Plants,” and he devotes a chapter to each of the drugs, opium, mescaline, and caffeine. Here are some interesting things I learned from my favourite chapter:

1. Western civilization didn’t know about coffee or tea until the 1600s.
2. In the 1650s, tea, coffee, and chocolate all made it to England.
3. Coffee is believed to have been discovered in Ethiopia around AD 850. It was apparently discovered by a goat herder who noticed his goats would behave erratically and stay up all night after eating the red berries of the Coffea arabica plant.
4. Tea was discovered in China and used as medicine since at least 1000 BC, though it wasn’t drunk as a regular drink until sometime between AD 618 and 907 (Tang Dynasty).
5. Coffee was used by Sufis in Yemen to help them from feeling sleepy during religious observances. Tea was the same for Buddhist monks during meditation.
6. In the Arab world, lots of coffeehouses opened up, and they became places to share news and gossip. Because it’s not mentioned in the Koran, it was a suitable alternative to alcohol. Coffee gained its name because kahve, loosely translated, means “wine of Araby.” At this time, during the 1500s, the Islamic world was more advanced in science and technology than Europe. German historian, Wolfgang Schivelbusch, said that coffee “seemed to be tailor-made for a culture that forbade alcohol consumption and gave birth to modern mathematics.” It’s interesting that during China’s Tang dynasty, this was also a “golden age” in advancements.
7. Europeans visiting became interested in the drinking of hot beverages, something that they hadn’t previously done. Turns out it was a good plan because boiling the water helped kill pathogens.
8. Caffeine in Europe created a huge shift, bringing a “new form of consciousness” with more mental sharpness. Previously, people would have had alcohol through their day.
9. In Europe, the first coffeehouses arrived in 1629 in Venice and in 1650 in England. Their popularity grew immensely, and they became places (just like in the Islamic world) where news was shared and conversations opened up. But only to men. Coffeehouses were often referred to as “penny universities” because you’d pay a penny for the coffee but gain invaluable information and discussion. They were even distinguished by the type of conversation taking place. For example, Lloyd’s Coffee House was where you’d go to learn about which ships were arriving and departing and buy insurance policies for the cargo. This eventually became Llyod’s of London, which you may recognize as an insurance brokerage.
10. The dark side of coffee is not far off from that of sugar, cotton, and other important products we take for granted today. By the end of the 18^th century, almost everyone in England was drinking tea. It made up 5% of the nation’s gross national product, traded by the British East India Company. Tea and sugar were both huge and important imports for England, and it was odd that the English combined them, as the Chinese never sweetened their tea.
11. This led to an expansion of slavery in the Caribbean to get more sugar for the tea the English had become dependent on. In Brazil, coffee growers brought in slaves from Africa to work on their plantations. And, for the tea, it was no better.
12. The British East India Company needed to get tea from China, but China didn’t want English goods for trade, so England had racked up a deficit. So, the British company decided to turn India (which it controlled) into a producer of tea and opium. The tea was imported to England. The opium was smuggled into China, despite fight and objections from the Chinese government. By 1828, opium trade represented 16% of the British East India Company’s revenue, and in less than 5 years, it was sending 5 million pounds of opium to China each year. The addiction the British created resulted in the downfall of China. When the Chinese emperor ordered the seizure of all opium in 1839, Britain declared war to ensure they could keep moving opium into China. Since they had a much more powerful Navy, they won and opened 5 “treaty ports” and took possession of Hong Kong.

The thing is, caffeine itself, like most compounds in nature, is neither fully bad nor fully good. It depends on the who, how, when, how much, and why. For many, the why is because people use it to feel less tired, feel sharper and more alert, have better athletic performance, or, after regular use, just to feel normal.

Even bees have been found to choose flowers from plants that have caffeine in their nectar, like the the coffee or tea plant and even Citrus family plants, over non-caffeinated nectar plants. The bees did this even when it didn’t make sense: “caffeine causes bees to overestimate forage quality, tempting the colony into sub-optimal foraging strategies” because they returned to flowers that didn’t have any nectar left. It seems possible that the plants themselves produce this caffeine molecule in order to attract pollinators and increase their chance of reproducing.

If you are a regular consumer of caffeine and suddenly stop drinking your coffee or tea, then you might recognize the addictive qualities of caffeine. When you stop, you may suffer with headaches, an increase in fatigue, and struggle with a general feeling of malaise or a loss in mental acuity. You might even get a migraine (though caffeine can both cause and treat migraines).

If you’ve talked with me about nutrition and food–which if you’ve seen me, I’ve likely brought this topic up in some form or another at some point–then you know I don’t usually have absolutes when it comes to what to eat or avoid. Personally, I’m sensitive to caffeine, so I don’t have it daily. I didn’t used to like coffee, and I only had it occasionally after university and until a few years ago. Then, because I got a Nespresso and it was just so convenient, I gradually started to have a coffee every morning. It was after reading that book that I realized it wasn’t a good plan for me. I was actually finding myself more tired. I mean, I would get the initial coffee jolt of energy, but then I noticed I was more tired as the caffeine wore off. I decided to quit the daily coffee, and paradoxically my normal relatively high energy returned. But maybe it’s not the same thing for you.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Acupuncture Session

As mentioned, consider skipping the caffeine at least a few hours prior to your acupuncture treatment. But, what else can you do before and after?

1. It’s a good idea to make sure you’re not coming in on an empty stomach. I often tell patients that while you’re resting on my massage table, your body is doing a lot of work. I don’t want you feeling weak and light headed because your blood sugars drop.
2. At the same time, it’s best not to come in with a really full stomach. Eating a heavy meal prior to acupuncture may make you feel uncomfortable, especially if I have you lying prone (face down) on the table. Think Goldilocks–not too empty, not too full.
3. What about fluids? Same thing. Goldilocks. But make sure you empty your bladder before getting on the table. If you tend to have a sensitive bladder, let me know so I can leave you a bell to ring for me if needed while you’re getting treated.
4. What about clothing? Do you need to wear anything specific? No. I have blankets and draping for you. But if you want, you can choose to wear or bring shorts, a tank top, or other loose clothing. Some patients have what they call their “acupuncture garb.”
5. I play relaxing music in the treatment room, but if you want complete silence, I do have disposable ear plugs. You’re also welcome to bring in your own music and earplugs or headset.
6. Don’t plan anything too important or challenging for right after your session. First of all, you’re likely to feel relaxed and good after your treatment, so you may not like rushing away. You might also feel a bit out of it initially, as you get your acupuncture release of endorphins (feel-good hormones), so it’s probably not a good plan to have a job interview or have to make a big decision right afterward.
7. During your treatment, let me know if you need anything to make you more comfortable.
8. Sometimes patients ask me if it’s okay to workout before or after acupuncture. The answer is yes. If you feel good doing that. I recommend listening to your body and deciding what to do based on that.
9. Hydrate well afterward. Like I said, your body is doing a lot of work during an acupuncture session. It’s the easiest workout you’ve ever done. 😉
10. Let me know if you have questions. Anytime. Before. During. After.

Don’t worry though if you forget about any of these things. I only recently read about the caffeine-acupuncture connection, and in the more than two decades that I’ve been treating pain (and many other conditions), many of my patients have benefitted from acupuncture, even when they’ve come in with coffee cup in hand.

And, if you do want to decrease your intake of caffeine but are experiencing fatigue, foggy-headedness, poor concentration, forgetfulness, or insomnia, let me know. Traditional Chinese Medicine treats these issues.