Heartburn is a common condition where patients experience a burning sensation in their throat and chest. This sensation is caused by acid in the stomach that is forced back up into the esophagus, the pipe responsible for transporting food from the mouth to the stomach, which can be caused because of several factors. Although heartburn generally has faint aptness on overall health, it can be extremely uncomfortable in severe cases. Below are a few useful tips for heartburn prevention.

Tips for preventing heartburn include the following:

1. Diet changes

The foods that we eat are among the biggest contributors to acid reflux or Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GRED). If you experience heartburn after eating any of the following foods, it is wise to steer clear from them as much as you can.

2. Avoid fried or fatty foods

Foods like fried chicken, deep fried veggies, and high-fat meats cause heartburn because they are typically much harder to digest, allowing the stomach to empty much slower. Furthermore, eating fatty, greasy, and fried foods prevents the lower esophageal sphincter from fully contracting, creating an entrance for stomach acids to travel upward.

3. Alcoholic beverages

All types of alcohol seem to aggravate or worsen heartburn symptoms. Although the severity of these symptoms varies from person to person, alcohol seems to relax the lower section of the esophagus which makes it easier for an individual’s stomach acids to back up.

4. Coffee and carbonated beverages

When your caffeine intake is above normal, your stomach’s esophagi muscles relax. Sodas and other highly caffeinated drinks contain bubbles of carbonation which expand inside of the stomach. This increased pressure contributes to heartburn and reflux.

5. Citrus fruits

Tomatoes, as well as citrus fruits such as lemons, grapefruit, key-lime, and mandarin oranges, contain large amounts of acid, which causes an excess of acid in the stomach, ultimately resulting in heartburn.

6. Lifestyle changes

Heartburn and mild cases of reflux are generally easy to prevent if you adopt and employ a few lifestyle changes.

7. Avoid going to bed with a full stomach

Depending on the foods you eat, your stomach needs about 2=3 hours to fully digest it. If you go to bed on a full stomach, the position in which you sleep can worsen reflux because it is easier for acid to flow upward.

8. Eat smaller and slower

A belly that is too full stretches out your stomach, which then produces more acid to help digest all that food. When you eat too quickly, your digestive tract is rapidly filled up with big pieces of food, ultimately becoming overloaded and leads to stomach acids.

9. Stop smoking

Smoking tobacco stimulates stomach acids and is known to cause the muscles between the stomach and the esophagus to relax. When this occurs, stomach acid comes back up to the esophagus. Furthermore, tobacco also damages the stomach and esophagus cells. If you tend to smoke tobacco while drinking alcohol, you may be at risk for developing esophagus cancer because the cancer-causing substances in tobacco can easily infiltrate these cells.

10. Lose any excess weight

Being overweight can be dangerous in general, but it is also a very common cause for GERD. This is because being overweight or even having excess weight increases the pressure on your abdomen. This promotes stomach acid leakage and backflow. Additionally, you should wear loose-fitting clothing to avoid additional pressure on your abdomen, which can cause heartburn.