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Acid Reflux and Lifestyle: 7 Tips to Reduce Symptoms

By: Fallon Cullerne It's amazing how the lifestyle choices you make can affect your overall health. If you have been diagnosed with acid reflux, it's important to find out how to control your symptoms and begin living a more comfortable life. Acid reflux disease will never go away, but the effects can be reduced and the symptoms can be prevented through simple lifestyle changes. Try these seven tips before taking more drastic actions:

1. Control Meal Size

If you typically eat three big meals a day, try adjusting your schedule to taking six small daily meals instead. This can help to prevent you from overeating. When your stomach gets too full, there is an increased amount of gastric pressure. Overeating is a major cause of acid reflux flare-ups, so stick to smaller meals and give your stomach a break. Eating more slowly can also help to reduce your discomfort.

2. No Bedtime Snacks

For at least two hours before retiring to bed, do not eat or drink. If you are one of the lucky ones who enjoy an afternoon nap, you can try doing so in a chair. Lying down with a full stomach can cause the contents of your stomach to be pressed against your lower esophagus, which increases the chances of acid reflux.

3. Become a Picky Eater

Many common foods and beverages will trigger acid reflux either through the increased production of acid and gastric pressure, or by loosening up the lower esophagus muscle. Any foods that trigger heartburn should be avoided. Certain foods, spicy foods, coffee, and citrus fruits and juices can irritate the lining of the esophagus and should be eaten in moderation. Try to avoid eating these types of food with dinner, to help prevent nighttime heartburn. If you're not sure which foods tend to trigger your heartburn, try keeping a heartburn record for a week to determine which foods you need to stay away from.

4. Avoid Smoking or Alcohol

Smoking is implicated in dozens of health problems and diseases, and acid reflux is among them. It stimulates the production of acid, among other things. And alcohol does the same thing, along with relaxing the lower esophageal muscle and potentially allowing acid reflux to occur. If you wish to drink alcohol in very small amounts, you might be okay, but always gauge your reactions. Obviously, if you start a journal or food record, this would be a good thing to keep track of in there.

5. Smarter Sleeping

Gravity is the main force at work here. If you keep your head higher than your waist, the contents of your stomach will more likely stay put. Consider buying a large, wedge-shaped pillow, to elevate your head and shoulders. You can also purchase an adjustable bed, to create an incline, or prop the legs of your current bed to accomplish the same thing (though less safely.)

6. Stay Comfortable

Remember that tight clothing constricts your stomach, pushing food against the lower esophagus. This can lead to acid reflux symptoms as well. Therefore, try loosening your belt, or wear clothes that are less constricting and have either elastic waist support, or hang loosely.

7. Relax

Researchers are unsure about the relationship between heartburn and stress. However, stress may be a factor in acid reflux disease, especially as a precursor. Regardless, reducing stress may help people to also reduce the likelihood that they will turn to comfort foods or drinks that will cause heartburn.

So, that was not so bad, was it? Those seven tips can do a lot for relieving acid reflux symptoms. Although there is no single known cause, a variety of small contributing factors can result in problems. So why not take these small steps, as you are able, and see how far they can help you in relieving your problems.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

Fallon Cullerne happily contributes to several well-known online magazines, on acid reflux as well as health question topics.
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