Get Yourself Out of Heartburn's Way

Heartburn is indicated by that all-too-familiar feeling: an uncomfortable burning sensation in your stomach or throat as you feel that involuntary surge of fluids making its way back up to your mouth. As uncomfortable as the stinging pain is, the sensation subsides just as quickly as it came. And since it hardly amounts to anything more than just a brief, minor nuisance, most of us simply shrug it off. However, when an occasional heartburn becomes chronic, it is already a symptom of GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).

What is heartburn?
An occasional condition that can strike any of us at any given time, heartburn is often regarded as more of a temporary annoyance than a serious health complication. Nevertheless, when it becomes chronic, it does result to other more serious health problems if left untreated. Chronic heartburn sufferers are usually diagnosed with GERD. A more chronic and severe form of an otherwise ordinary heartburn, it can damage the interior lining of the esophagus, hence, swallowing becomes difficult.

The main cause of heartburn is the stomach acid that gets pushed back up the esophagus due to an underactive lower esophageal sphincter (LES) that fails to tighten. Several reasons have been identified to account for this reflux activity. But among them the two most common factors are associated with two kinds of excesses: excessive food in the stomach and/or excessive pressure on the stomach because of pregnancy or obesity. Accordingly, heartburn is a daily occurrence for one out of 10 people and 50% of pregnant women.

Prevent heartburn now!
To keep heartburn from escalating and developing into GERD, making small but definitely effective changes in your lifestyle and daily habits are needed. If you manage to abide by them religiously every day, expect your symptoms to decrease noticeably. These changes are diverse, ranging from eating habits to the actual food you eat and even to your clothing. So start getting serious with heartburn by learning about these changes.

Instead of having the usual three big meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) daily, subdivide them to five or six smaller meals to be evenly distributed throughout the day. Smaller meals consumed more frequently keep you from getting too full, which applies more pressure on your stomach, thus, causing heartburn.

Cut down on the following kinds of foods/ beverages: spicy food, red meat, fried foods, fatty foods, citrus fruits, uncooked onions and tomatoes, butter, and oil.

Decrease your intake of any food and beverage containing peppermint, chocolate, and caffeine.

Skip alcoholic drinks altogether.

Ditch the smoking habit.

If you are overweight, start getting serious about getting into a weight loss regimen.

Avoid wearing ill-fitting clothes, particularly those that are tight on your midsection. With this, it also follows that you should not wear your belts too tightly.

Make sure that you do not eat 2-3 hours before hitting the sack.

Using pillows, elevate your head by 6-8 inches as you sleep. Research has indicated that doing so helps speed up the draining of your stomach acids from your esophagus.

Since stress can also trigger heartburn, practice effective de-stressing techniques you can do every day.