Heartburn can happen when the lower esophageal sphincter doesn’t tighten as it should (these are the things you learn from undergoing years of acid reflux studies and tests). Other common triggers are large meals, spicy foods, alcohol, fatty foods, coffee, citrus, peppermint, and even chocolate 🙁 Not to worry, though. There are simple ways to ease annoying heartburn.
Stand up. Since heartburn happens when stomach acid makes its way into your esophagus, standing up can subdue that upward flow.
Chew gum. A report in The Journal of Dental Research showed that people who chewed sugar-free gum for 30 minutes had lower amounts of acid in their esophagi. Repeated chewing creates more saliva, which makes you swallow more and wash down the reflux.
If all else fails, get some over-the-counter help. The main ingredient in OTC heartburn meds, aluminum hydroxide, neutralizes acid. Just beware, if you take them all the time, they can have some pretty terrible side effects, including kidney stones. As a chronic heartburn sufferer and one-time kidney stone sufferer, I can testify: heartburn is a piece of non-acidic cake compared to kidney stones.
