subject: The Most Effective Strategies To Prevent Nighttime Heartburn [print this page] Although heartburn can attack any time, when it occurs during the night, it's particularly painful and troublesome. Most people who suffer from acid reflux or heartburn frequently suffer from nighttime heartburn. This only makes sense, since being in a prone position makes it easy for food and digestive acids to move away from the stomach. For a lot of people, chronic loss of sleep can be even more hazardous to their physical and mental health than the actual heartburn problem.
One approach to avoiding nighttime heartburn is understanding at what point in time it's alright to lay down. You need your stomach to be as empty as possible before laying down. The latest you should have a meal is several hours prior to the time when you go to bed. This means you won't have an excessive amount of digestive acid within your stomach. Furthermore, you will need to steer clear of alcoholic beverages during this time of evening, or possibly give it up entirely. Some folks enjoy having a drink before bed to make them drowsy, but you won't be doing a great deal sleeping once nighttime heartburn hits.
Another thing to stay away from is wearing skin-tight clothing to bed. It can press on your body and intensify your condition. You might also want to keep your covers loose if they have a tendency to put pressure on you. As well, never sleep on your stomach if you can at all get around it. If you are inclined to turn over in your sleep, you might need to stick a pebble on the front of your pajamas to wake you up so you can get back into the appropriate position.
Quite a few sufferers of nighttime heartburn obtain relief by piling up their pillows. This will help to make certain that their shoulders, neck and head are raised, and it keeps the stomach acids from going into your esophagus. Then again, if you shift around a lot while sleeping, then you'll slide off of this incline. To resolve this, buy a special acid reflux pillow or wedge-shaped foam pillow to help you remain in place.
There are a number of antacids that you can take if heartburn wakes you up in the middle of the night. In addition to over the counter medicines in tablet, liquid and pill form, there are also medications prescribed by a physician. It's usually safe to try a non-prescription antacid for up to a week. However if you're continuing to suffer from nighttime heartburn at least twice a week, you really need to visit your health care provider. Heartburn and acid reflux aren't situations that vanish by themselves.
