The condition isn’t related to your heart despite its name being heartburn. Rather, it’s the burning sensation caused by acid reflux. You might think, “If it’s acid, why is it in my heart? Isn’t acid inside the stomach?”
True, acid can be found in the stomach, but it sometimes goes up, called acid reflux. Acid reflux is a condition where your stomach acid goes up your esophagus, which causes pain since it is coated to protect itself from stomach acid, hence the pain you’re feeling.
Heartburn is a common condition and can sometimes be experienced by very healthy individuals. However, acid reflux can be a symptom or a sign of a more serious condition.
Sometimes, acid reflux can be so bad that doctors recommend you take medications. Luckily for us, there are some steps that we can take to reduce our chances of getting heartburn or relieve ourselves of the pain if we’re currently experiencing heartburn. Here are some of them.
Don’t Overeat
In the opening of the esophagus, there’s a valve that prevents our food and acid from going up the esophagus. However, it can be caused accidentally when we overeat because the pressure inside our stomach is full.
In essence, by overeating, you’re increasing your chances of getting heartburn later on. So how do you solve this? It’s easy; you can eat smaller portions. This way, your food will sit comfortably in your stomach without the risk of your esophagus’ opening.
Eat Slowly
We understand that because of our schedules, we sometimes miss meals or hurriedly eat them to get in time for school or work. However, by eating too quickly, you’re also increasing your chances of getting heartburn later in the day.
This is because we tend not to chew the food properly when we eat quickly. When we don’t chew our food properly, our stomach gets full easily, leading to heartburn.
Sleep On Your Left Side
This might sound arbitrary, but it’s proven to be effective. Acid reflux is common at night because when we sleep, we let the food and acid go up the esophagus.
If you’re one of the people who constantly experience acid reflux at night, one thing you can do is sleep on your left side. This is because our anatomy shows that our esophagus is connected to the right side of our stomachs, so sleeping on the left will reduce your chances of getting acid reflux at night.
Eat Dinner Earlier
Eating dinner late can cause acid reflux because when we go to sleep while our food is still being digested, there’s a chance that food and acid will go up our esophagus once we lie down. So what can you do? You can eat dinner earlier so that when you lie down later in the night, there will be no food and acid going up your esophagus.
Take Medication
If you’re frequently experiencing acid reflux almost daily, you can talk to your doctor about it. They can recommend medications like Prilosec. Prilosec Pricing depends on the amount you want to buy or if there are any discounts, but usually, it’s not that pricey, especially if you buy them online. Your doctor can also give you tips on reducing your chances of getting acid reflux.
Reduce Stress
Chronic stress, like muscle pain and slow digestion, takes a huge physical toll on your body. Slow digestion increases your chances of getting acid reflux since the longer your food stays inside your stomach, the higher your chance of acid reflux.
Not only that, but since chronic stress also increases pains, it can also magnify the burning sensation in your chest, giving you a worse time due to heartburn.
Maintain a Moderate Weight
If you’re overweight, you will have a lot of belly fat. Having a lot of belly fat means more pressure that is put into your stomach, and we all know that the higher the pressure on your stomach is, the higher your chances of getting acid reflux.
This is because the pressure in your abdomen can be so high that your lower esophageal sphincter will get pushed forward, away from the support of your diaphragm.
This condition is called a hiatal hernia, the leading cause of acid reflux. That said, what you can do is to maintain a healthy weight. If you’re already overweight, you might want to reduce your body weight to decrease your chances of getting acid reflux.
Final Words
Although acid reflux is a common condition, it can also be a symptom of a more serious condition. Luckily, most of the time, it’s just due to our bad eating habits, which can be easily adjusted if we want to.
Not only that, but if you’re still having heartburn even though your weight is healthy, there are medications out there that can help you be relieved. Of course, you have to talk to your doctor about it first.
