Heartburn can often aggravate depending on the types of foods that we eat. Oily, heavy and spicy foods are more likely to make you get a heartburn. The classic symptoms of heartburn are:
– A burning sensation around the breastbone, throat and neck
– Severe coughing
– Hoarseness in voice which increase if you lie down, bend or eat
– A change in taste
Heartburn, if it occurs a few times, can be prevented by adhering to certain home remedies and lifestyle modifications. However, if you develop a more serious situation, your heartburn can progress into gastroesophageal reflux (GERD).
If you get a heartburn, you must do the following home remedies.
Loosen up your clothes
You could be experiencing a heartburn because of tight clothes around your stomach as they could be binding the stomach. In such a case, first thing you should do is loosen them up. Wear free and breezy clothes.
Stand up
Often, heartburn could happen due to a wrong posture or prolonged sitting. If you are sitting or are lying down, you must stand up. Let gravity work itself. Also, when you are lying down, your organs get compressed, increasing the chances of a heartburn.
Elevate the waist
If you are sleeping or are unfit and cannot stand up, then you must elevate the level of your bed from waist level. Only lifting your head won’t help because your stomach level needs to be raised in order for the digestive juices to flow in the right direction.
Chew a gum
Gum helps in increasing the amount of saliva and hence, improves digestion.
Have a mixture of water and baking soda
Baking soda has the property to neutralize your stomach acid. So, an immediate relief may just be lying in your kitchen. Mix a teaspoon of baking soda in water and have the mixture slowly.
Never light up
For smokers, smoking is their coping mechanism for any kind of discomfort. But you must know that smoking only worsens heartburn. In fact, if you have a regular case of heartburn, you must quit smoking altogether.
Take OTC medicines
Not a home remedy exactly but it doesn’t require you to consult an expert. There are plenty of OTC medicines available for heartburn in the markets. You can have just about any of those.
Know heartburn acupressure points
You can try acupressure points to subside a case of heartburn.
Unwind
If you have been having excess work, leading to stress and anxiety, your stomach could be producing more acid. So, one of the first things that you must do in case of a heartburn is relax and don’t let work wreak havoc on your health.
Try these herbal preparations
You can try chamomile, marshmallow, cinnamon, licorice root and slippery elm as all these are known to soothe symptoms of heartburn. However, make sure that you consult your doctor before trying any of these.
However, to treat heartburn in the long run, there are certain lifestyle modifications that you must make. These include the following:
– Kick the butt. Smoking only worsens the case of heartburn.
– Lose weight as your excess weight can also lead to heartburn.
– Improve your diet and include almonds, bananas, basil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, turmeric and ginger in your diet as all of these are effective in keeping heartburn at bay. Also, drink a lot of water.
– Avoid spicy foods, tomatoes, chocolate, coffee and alcohol.
– Make sure that you maintain a gap of two to three hours between your sleep and last meal of the day so that your body has enough time to digest it.
