By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-11-23 13:31:04 | Word Count: 664
Nearly everyone has experienced heartburn at some time or another and has sought relief through one of the home cures for heartburn. Heartburn is often the result of either over-eating or indulging in too many rich and spicy foods as we tend to do during holiday meals. A mild case can involve some stomach discomfort such as feeling over full, bloating, and belching accompanied by a mild pain. People with more severe cases experience a burning pain in the abdomen or lower chest that travels up to the neck area. While people refer to this as heartburn, it really has nothing to do with the heart.
Heartburn is the layman’s term for acid reflux pain. When you swallow food, it travels down a tube-like structure called the esophagus and then into your stomach. Your stomach contains strong acids that help digest the food. At the bottom of your esophagus there is a muscle known as a sphincter. This muscle will open and allow food to pass from the esophagus into the stomach. Once this has occurred, the muscle contracts and tightens. This action prevents the food from backing up or the stomach acid from escaping into the esophagus. But if this muscle does not contract and tighten after the food has passed, the food and acid will back up (known as reflux). The end result: heartburn pain.
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Since most people experience this from time to time, nearly everyone has a home remedy that they try before calling a doctor or buying an over the counter medication. Contrary to what many people think, home cures for heartburn can be very effective. However, like many other health problems, there is no magic bullet. People are individuals and what works for one, may not work for another.
The effectiveness of the cure can be related to the cause of the problem. With some people the heartburn is triggered by a particular food. If the person can identify the food that is causing the problem, avoiding the food is the simplest way to stop reflux at its source. Everyone is unique, but some common food triggers are alcohol, citrus, onions and garlic.
Another effective home remedy is one containing an alkali ingredient to neutralize the acid that has escaped from the stomach. What might be one of the most common home cures for heartburn that many people try is adding one teaspoon of baking soda to a glass of water and then drinking the mixture.
Something else that may help is a simple adjustment in the way you eat. If you tend to eat a few large meals every day, try breaking it up into several smaller ones. This prevents tremendous amounts of food from reaching the stomach at once, which causes pressure to build, and reflux to ensue.
On his website www.refluxremedy.com Bob Barton mentions eating a red apple as one of the most successful home cures for heartburn. And according to Barton, you don’t even have to eat the entire apple. A couple of slices can do the trick.
Barton’s book, The Reflux Remedy Report also suggests trying techniques like elevating your head during sleep. This helps keep your head in the appropriate position and alignment with your stomach, keeping acids where they belong.
For more home cures for acid reflux, visit www.refluxremedy.com and read The Reflux Remedy Report today!
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