What Causes Heartburn?

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Are you wondering what causes heartburn? The article below explains it. It is useful to know the causes in order to prevent it or avoid it. Or sometimes, under the circumstances, knowing the early symptoms, allows us to treat it immediately before it worsens.

What Causes Heartburn?

If you are one of the literally millions of people who suffer from heartburn, no doubt you are eager to find heartburn relief. I believe that a critical first step is understanding what causes heartburn in the first place.

There are many heartburn triggers, and they can vary wildly from person to person. Many people realize that the most common cause of heartburn is the food they eat. However, they may not understand the physical process that produces the heartburn in the fist place.

By really understanding what is happening inside your body and causing the heartburn in the first place, it can be very helpful when evaluating heartburn triggers and Heartburn Remedies. Then you can start to predict what causes, and relieves your heartburn.

The Culprit: Your Lower Esophageal Sphincter

The lower esophageal sphincter, or LES for short, is the muscle flap that keeps your stomach acid where it belongs – down in your stomach! The LES is like a little valve at the top of your stomach that allows what you eat and drink to go down, and then it also keeps it from coming back up. However, with people who suffer from heartburn, this valve is often not working property. The LES is allowing stomach acid to come up your esophagus. And because your esophagus is much more delicate than your stomach, it is damaged by stomach acid, and when acid comes up into your esophagus you experience the painful, burning sensation of heartburn.

Excess Acid

Having excess acid in your stomach is one of the most common reasons that stomach acid will make its way back up past your LES. Food is the most likely culprit in this scenario. Excess acid can be caused by overeating, or by certain types of food. Foods that contain a lot of citric acid, or are high in fat are common culprits. Alcohol, caffeine, tobacco and chocolate can also produce excess stomach acid in many people.

Movement of Acid

Gravity alone may be causing your heartburn. There are a number of things that may cause your stomach acid to come up past your LES. Lying flat while your stomach is trying to digest can often cause heartburn. This is why many people experience nighttime heartburn….they lay down soon after eating. You may be able to get heartburn relief by avoiding eating anything less than a few hours before you are going to be going to bed or napping. To Cure Heartburn you can also make sure to sleep propped up, with an elevated bed or something as simple as stacking pillows behind you. Also, vigorous exercise can cause your stomach acid to come back up. Be careful about engaging in exercises where you will be doing a lot of jumping or bouncing if you have problems with heartburn, especially shortly after eating.

By understanding simple common causes of heartburn, you are more likely to identify a solution that will give you long term relief.

After suffering from severe heartburn and acid reflux for years, Liz discovered several simple natural Heartburn Remedies that helped cure her heartburn permanently. Liz is now committed to helping others cure their heartburn naturally, so they don’t have to resort to over-the-counter or prescription medications ever again. Download her 5 simple heartburn cures at: http://www.yourheartburnrelief.com/5__simple_heartburn_cures

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liz_Evans

Learn more about how to treat heartburn, especially treating heartburn during pregnancy..

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