What Causes Heartburn and How can you Control it?

If you’re tired of painful attacks of heartburn and of popping handfuls of antacids to make the pain go away, you might be interested in knowing just exactly what you’re doing to cause the problem. After all, heartburn is not contagious, so you can’t be getting it from someone else, and it really is nothing to do with the heart and everything to do with your stomach. Therefore, you have control of a lot of the behaviors that are causing you trouble, and there are numerous things you can do to alleviate the causes of heartburn. Some of the things you can do to alleviate heartburn include:

1.Quit smoking. Smoking is one of the major causes of heartburn, because the chemicals in the tobacco weaken the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) which allows stomach acid to flow back up into your esophagus.

2.Reduce the amount of alcohol you consume. Alcohol both increases the production of stomach acid and relaxes the LES which is a bad combination that often results in heartburn.

3.Sorry to tell you, but eating chocolate can put you at risk of frequent heartburn. Once again, chocolate relaxes the LES which allows stomach acid to spurt back up into the esophagus.

4.The news keeps getting worse! Any caffeinated drink, such as coffee, tea, or cola, also causes the LES to relax creating a flow of stomach acid into the esophagus.

5.And if that wasn’t enough, fried foods are also culprits in the problem of heartburn. These are things which will keep food in your stomach longer by slowing down digestion. A full stomach means more pressure which can further depress the relaxed LES resulting in more stomach acid flow.

6.Citrus fruits and juices have also been found to relax the LES. Removing them from your diet can help you decrease the incidence of heartburn.

7.Practice more self-control when it comes to overeating. Learn portion control and how to resist eating more than you should. Once again, overeating leads to a full stomach, excess pressure, and allows the acid to flow more freely.

8.Tomatoes, and products containing them, such as spaghetti and pizza, will also lower the resistance of the LES and cause stomach acid to flow into the esophagus.

9.As strange as it may seem, if you like to wear tight clothing, you could be causing your own heartburn. Once again, tight clothing places pressure on the stomach causing all the problems discussed above.

10.A final culprit you can avoid is eating too close to bedtime. When you lie down while your stomach is full, more pressure is exerted on the LES making acid reflux more likely.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways that you can take control of your heartburn problem and even prevent it from happening. Most of them are diet related, and all have to do with your stomach, so watch what you put into your mouth, wear clothing that fits loosely, and keep your weight down to an appropriate level, and you’ll be in control of the causes of heartburn.

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