Do you cringe at the idea of eating a nice, juicy orange? Do you worry about what will happen if you lay down after you eat? Some of the most troubling indicators of reflux are burning and discomfort in the chest and throat areas, especially following consumption of fatty or acidic foods. Continue to the article below and learn about ways to control these terrible symptoms.
Eat dinner a minimum of three hours before bedtime. Standing upright keeps stomach acid and food in your stomach where it belongs. However, whenever you laying down, the acid may rise back up into your esophagus. So you should remain active and upright for a couple of hours before you hit the sack at night.
Stop Smoking
Stop smoking as soon as possible! Smoking can cause acid reflux. It makes digestion slow down and causes an increase in stomach acid, and it slows down saliva production on top of all that. It weakens the sphincter of the esophagus too. So stop smoking now.
Pregnant women often experience acid reflux. As the fetus grows in size, it crowds your stomach, causing acid to be pushed up from the stomach into the esophagus. Eating low-fat and low-acid food is a great way to keep reflux at bay. If this doesn’t help, there are teas which can soothe the esophagus and neutralize stomach acids without hurting the baby.
What do you eat? How do you feel afterward? People who have acid reflux have triggers that make things worse. When you know what they are, you can try to avoid them, especially at night.
Acid Reflux
Try to quit smoking if you are afflicted with acid reflux. Stomach acid levels increase with nicotine consumption. This makes acid reflux worse. But, you may not want to quit quit abruptly, as doing so may stress the body unduly, making the acid reflux even worse. Take your time.
Elevate your head above the bed. You can use bricks, wood or even bed raisers to accomplish this. Be sure your head is half a foot higher than the bottom of your bed. By keeping your upper body elevated, you can prevent stomach acid from rising while sleeping.
Make sure your clothes are loose around your waist. Tight belts, slimming underclothing, and restrictive waistbands are all suspect. Wearing this type of clothing will cause some unnecessary pressure on your stomach. It may actually cause reflux to occur. Wear comfortable clothes that allow expansion for your stomach.
If you’re active and you notice reflux symptoms following strenuous activities, there might be an easy fix. Increase your water intake. Water will ensure your body is properly hydrated. It also aids with digestion. You can aid the digestion process and help your stomach to use your food effectively by consuming water.
Moderate exercise which keeps you upright can help immensely. Doing this can really help to ease your acid reflux in a few different ways. First, keeping upright aids in proper digestion. Secondly, it promotes weight loss which has also been shown to help with acid reflux. While moderate exercise is beneficial for acid reflux sufferers, vigorous exercise can exacerbate your symptoms.
Eat smaller meals, more often. If you tend to eat two or three larger meals daily, you may be boosting your chances of acid reflux flares. When your stomach is too full, it puts some pressure on the area between your stomach and esophagus, which causes it to open up to get relief. This allows stomach acid to creep into your esophagus, causing heartburn. You should eat smaller, more-frequent meals during the day.
Shedding excess pounds is always a good idea. Those extra pounds you are carrying around may be the primary reason you are suffering from acid reflux. The extra weight can cause stomach acid to go into your esophagus. This could damage your esophageal liner and cause you a great deal of discomfort. Adopt a healthier lifestyle, make changes to your diet and be more active to get in shape.
Drink fewer beverages when eating. You increase the load your stomach is taking when you fill it with fluids on top of food. Pressure is applied to sections that make acid reflux form. Drink only minute sips of water with your meals.
There are many foods that are difficult to consume with acid reflux, like pizza. Try adding sugar to your tomato-based sauces to help limit the acid in the sauce. The sauce will taste sweeter and digestion will be easier.
Slow down when you’re eating in order to keep acid reflux at bay. Relax and enjoy your food. In addition, you shouldn’t consume too much food during a single meal. Aim to stop eating as soon as you are not famished anymore, not whenever you are full.
If you are pregnant and your pregnancy triggered your acid reflux, try and see what could be the cause. Even something weird like drinking water at night could contribute to the problem. If you can determine the common cause, it will be easier to keep it under control.
See a doctor right away if there is blood in your feces or vomit. This can indicate a serious problem. If you find out that you have something besides acid reflux, then you can get the right treatment.
Now you’ll know what to eat and what to avoid. Now you know what dietary changes are necessary to alleviate your symptoms. Living will be easier now that you know so much. Use one method at a time to figure out what works best for you.
