9 Tips On How To Combat Heartburn

Heartburn is a common problem which is familiar to everyone, however, not many people understand heartburn as a bad symptom and often ignore it. This is not right, guys! A little sign as heartburn should signal about possible problems with digestion and if left untreated, it can turn into really serious ailments. Those include, first of all, acid reflux, or problems with secretion in the stomach, or Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or esophagus inflammation.Heartburn causes such types of discomfort like a burning feeling in the throat and chest, receiving sore, very acidic or very hot fluid to the throat, aches in the chest, chronic cough or hoarseness, difficulty swallowing and feeling heaviness in the chest. The most common causes of heartburn, as well as acid reflux and GERD, are mostly linked to our bad eating habits. Below, you can see the tips on how to combat heartburn.

1.Change your eating habits for healthy ones. First of all, avoid eating before going to bed, eat 3-4 hours before the bedtime and never go to bed on a full stomach. Besides, avoid eating spicy and acidic foods which are reported to stimulate heartburn and acid reflux. Finally, avoid alcohol and other foods and beverages which irritate the stomach.

2. Try to identify the specific foods that cause the problem. To monitor what you eat every day, it can be useful to start a diary, but it is not to easy to do as many of us sometimes eat without any thinking and control. At least, try making easy records in order to find out what types of foods cause heartburn.

3. In any situation, avoid overeating. Eat small portions of the foods. Add more fiber to your daily diet, including great amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables. In particular, experts recommend eating more of such natural foods as carrots, greens and berries as they can lower stomach acidity and the chances of heartburn occurrence.

4. In order to combat heartburn, it is essential to develop a habit of chewing the foods slowly. This is a key rule to lower the occurrence of heartburn, because large pieces of meals bring larger amounts of acids.

5. Keep your body weight under control. It is not considered to be a leading factor that causes acid reflux or GERD, but those who do not have extra weight have less abdominal pressure and normal shape of the lower esophageal sphincter.

6. For the same reason, avoid wearing too tight clothing.

7. Do not try to suppress the symptoms of heartburn with minty drops, chocolate, candies, sweet tea or coffee and other foods or beverages. This is not the approach which can help you solve the problem.

8. Be sure that heartburn, acid reflux or GERD are not cause by a medication you are taking. Some medications (especially the ones for asthma, hypertension and various inflammations) cause increased acid production in the stomach, and termination of taking such medications will eventually lead to relieving the symptoms of heartburn.

9. Listen to the symptoms and the signs your body gives you, and do not feel shy to seek medical help. Learn as much as possible about the causes, important factors and possible complications linked to heartburn and acid reflux, and try to find an effective strategy to combat this problem as fast as possible.

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

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