4 Ways to Alleviate Night Time Acid Reflux
If you suffer from night time acid reflux, then you know how hard it can be to get a good night of sleep. It’s frustrating to wake up night after night with the same painful sensation. You should know that there are some really simple steps which you can take that will help you to alleviate your night time heartburn with little or no work on your part.
1. Consider Your Diet
You should know that one of the biggest contributors to acid reflux in general is your diet. One of the best ways to ease any sort of ongoing heartburn is to take a good look at what you eat on a day to day basis. For instance, how much coffee do you drink? How much greasy food do you eat? Have you been eating lots of spicy foods or drinking more alcohol than usual? All of these factors will contribute to your heartburn, so if you are working to fight your problem, you need to change you diet. Changing your diet will also help to ease night time acid reflux as well, so it’s really worth it to take a good look at all you consume throughout the day.
2. Caffeine Intake
Eliminate caffeinated beverages in the afternoon, as these often contain high amounts of acid, which can increase your chances of getting night time acid reflux. You should also cut down on the amount of greasy or fried foods that you eat and focus on lean protein, whole grains and fresh fruits and veggies. Stay away from acidic fruits such as pineapple, oranges and grapefruit, but make sure to get plenty of leafy green veggies and other, milder fruits.
3. Consider What Time You Eat
In order to make sure that you are able to avoid night time acid reflux, you should eat your evening meal earlier than you ordinarily would. Sometimes, when we eat too late, we find that our food hasn’t had the time it needs to fully digest. So, when we lie down to go to bed, the result is night time acid reflux. As an added problem, when you go to bed, your body slows down and this includes your digestive process. So, not only are you struggling with your heartburn at night, but you are suffering with it all night because your stomach isn’t digesting the way it would during the day.
Reduce your chances for night time acid reflux by making sure to eat your dinner earlier, or staying up later so that your food has enough time to digest before you lie down. Make sure to stay upright for at least an hour after you eat so that you can properly digest your meals.
4. Consider How Much You Eat
Do you eat until you feel as if you might pop? This is not good for your waistline and it’s not good for your poor stomach, either. Even when you’re very hungry, one serving of a meal should be enough to help offset your hunger and keep you going. The body wasn’t designed to eat large amounts of food at one time, so when you shove large amounts of food into your body, you are only going to make yourself suffer from night time acid reflux. When your stomach is too full, it thinks that it needs to produce more acid to digest the extra food, so do yourself a favor and stop eating too much.
By following a few simple steps, you will find that you can ease your night time acid reflux and get the good sleep that you have been craving, without the painful interruptions of heartburn.
