10 Lifestyle changes to treat Heartburn or Acid Reflux

There are a lot of lifestyle habits that can aggravate or in some cases trigger Acid Reflux. These habits are something which should be given up for an overall improvement in your health. Let's see a few changes you should bring not only to prevent Acid Reflux but also to leave a better healthy life.

1. Don't go to sleep immediately after a meal. A lot of blood of your body is concentrated around your stomach after you eat so that the blood can absorb the nutrients from the recent food you took. While sleeping we have a tendency to go into sleeping positions which are not helpful in digestion. Especially, sleeping on your stomach puts a lot of pressure on your abdomen creating problem in the contraction process of your food pipe and stomach. It could put pressure on your stomach leading to the food to come back to your esophagus creating Acid Reflux. Therefore, it is better to wait at least 3 hours before you go to sleep so that the food is way past the stomach into the intestines.
2. Light exercises after your 1 or 2 hours of your meal will send then food further down in the digestive system reducing the chances of Acid Reflux.
3. Remain upright for around an hour after the meal. This is don't lay down but keep sitting or standing so that gravity does not bring back the food in your food pipe.
4. Stop smoking. We all have heard this suggestion numerous times but it is just too hard to kick the butt away. But believe me, in addition to increasing your lifespan, it will also help in treating Acid Reflux because the smoke you inhale damages the lining of esophagus thereby aggravating Heartburn.
5. Lose weight if you have extra weight. Having too much fat puts pressure on your stomach disturbing the natural digestion process. This is specially related to the fat in the abdomen region.
6. Alcohol absorbs water and leaves your esophagus dry. Reduce your intake to 1-2 drinks a day and if possible completely avoid it till you are better.
7. Keep your head at 6 inches high when you go to sleep. Use something hard like a book or something. Don't depend on your pillow because most of us usually don't keep up on the pillow all night.
8. Lie on the left side and not on the stomach or the right side. The digestion process works ideally when you lie on your left side after a meal.
9. Avoid stress at all costs. Just like smoking, stress has a lots of bad side effects and disturbance in the digestion system is one of them. Practically anything that interfered with the digestion process in your stomach can lead to acid reflux and stress in one of them.