Heartburn is described as a burning sensation that can be felt near the chest specifically in the lower sternum. Heartburn pain is caused by a reflux of digestive acid that shoots up and enter the lower esophagus thus resulting to a burning sensation and acute pain.
It is said that some 67 million of Americans suffer from some type of heartburn condition. How can you stop the pain of heartburn? Well, the first thing to stop heartburn is to know what can cause it. Some of the general heartburn causes are:
1. Caffeine: Can cause the esophagus sphincter muscle to relax, thus resulting to backward flow of digestive acids, leading to heartburn.
2. Fatty Foods and Oily Foods - Slows down digestion because they need special enzymes that can digest them. The problem with longer digestion, foods begin to pile up in the stomach increasing pressure to the sphincter of the esophagus and eventually give way. There goes the digestive acids again, burning the esophagus.
3. Tomatoes - These foods also relaxes the sphincter of the esophagus muscles.
4. Smoking - The chemicals from puffing a stick of cigarette causes to weaken the sphincter muscle of the lower esophagus.
5. Alcohol - Has relaxing effects on the sphincter muscle of the esophagus.
Now that you know what to avoid heartburn, let me give you tips on how to actually achieve heartburn cure.
Drinking lots of fluids, particularly water, provides some heartburn relief.
You should try to eat high fiber foods to counteract the heartburn; such as Oatmeal, Whole wheat pastas and breads, or anything with high fiber content.
Eat more frequent, smaller meals.
Do not lie down after a meal.
Elevate your head at night while sleeping.
These are just some tips to help with your heartburn. For more information on how to cure you heartburn, please visit the website about Heartburn.
