But what causes it to occur? And what can you do to relieve it? We answer both these questions and more, providing you with the key information you need to know about dealing with heartburn.
WHAT IS HEARTBURN?
Heartburn is a painful, burning feeling in the middle of your chest. It’ll usually be felt behind your breastbone, rising from the lower tip and up towards your throat.
You'll also often hear the term ‘heartburn’ being used interchangeably with acid reflux, or described as indigestion or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD/GORD). But, they all mean different things.
Acid reflux (or regurgitation), for example, is a common cause of indigestion and refers to the action of acid in your stomach travelling up into your throat. Heartburn, on the other hand, is a symptom of indigestion that causes an uncomfortable feeling in the middle of the chest.
GERD/GORD is the name given if you experience heartburn on a repeated or regular basis.
What causes heartburn?
Heartburn is brought on as a result of acid reflux, which is when some of the acidic contents of the stomach travels back up the oesophagus (food pipe) towards the mouth. This is caused by the action of a muscular ring at the entrance of your stomach, known as the lower oesophageal sphincter.
When working correctly, this ring of muscle opens to let food into your stomach and closes shortly after.
But when it doesn’t close properly, weakens or opens too often, stomach acid can escape back into your oesophagus, causing symptoms like heartburn.
Risk factors for heartburn
Many people get heartburn from time to time and, in most cases, there’s no clear cause behind it.
However, several risk factors may increase your likelihood of experiencing it, and even make it feel worse when you do have it. These include:
- Eating certain foods and drinks
- Being overweight or having obesity
- Smoking
- Feeling stressed or anxious
- Maintaining poor eating habits (such as lying down immediately after eating and snacking before bed)
- Hormonal changes (such as during pregnancy)
Taking certain medicines, such as anti-inflammatory painkillers, antidepressants and specific asthma and high blood pressure treatments, and having medical conditions like a hiatus hernia, stomach ulcer or bacterial stomach infection can also increase your risk of heartburn. So it’s important to talk to your doctor when looking for personalised advice.
Heartburn and pregnancy
Symptoms of indigestion, such as heartburn and feeling bloated, are also very common during pregnancy. In fact, heartburn is reported to affect up to 45% of women.
This may be brought on for two main reasons. Firstly, the hormonal changes that you commonly experience during pregnancy. And secondly, having the growing baby pressed against your stomach.
The severity of heartburn may also get worse throughout the pregnancy. So it’s important to follow your doctor’s advice, as you will need to know which treatments can provide effective relief or not.*
Take a look at our dedicated guide to learn more about heartburn in pregnancy.*
Managing heartburn: treatment and relief
If your heartburn is impacting your day-to-day life, there are plenty of ways to relieve its symptoms and get you back to feeling your best.
Whether through making a few lifestyle changes or taking specific over-the-counter medications, here are some effective methods you can use to help combat your symptoms.
Alter your eating habits
If you find that you experience heartburn after eating a particularly fatty or greasy meal or drinking a lot of alcohol, you may find that cutting down on these types of foods and drinks could help.
Certain other types of foods and drinks may cause or worsen heartburn, so it’s important to think about what you’re eating. Here’s what you should aim to avoid:
- Tomatoes
- Spicy foods
- Chocolate
However, it’s not just what you eat that you need to think about. It’s also how you eat it. To help prevent or reduce heartburn, try to eat little and often and avoid eating within three or four hours of your bedtime.
Live a healthy, stress-free lifestyle
As well as your diet, changing your daily habits may help to reduce the effect of heartburn.
Stopping smoking, for example, may make a big difference in the overall discomfort you experience. And since being overweight can put added pressure on your stomach, taking the steps required to lose some weight may also help alleviate your symptoms.
At the same time, changing how you sleep may also make a difference – especially if heartburn is keeping you up at night.
For example, by using wood, bricks or books to raise the head of your bed by around 10–20 cm, and making sure your chest and head are positioned above your waist as you sleep, this should help prevent stomach acid from travelling up towards your throat.
Use over-the-counter heartburn medication
Alongside making these lifestyle changes, over-the-counter medications known as antacids or alginates can help to provide fast, effective relief from mild cases of heartburn.
Rennie® Peppermint is a form of antacid that targets the direct cause of heartburn: the acid inside your stomach.
Through its calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate formula, these tablets work to neutralise any excess stomach acid you have by converting it into water and soluble mineral salts.
However, while over-the-counter medications like these can help relieve heartburn in the short term, they shouldn’t be taken over a long-term period. If your symptoms do not improve after taking Rennie, speak to your doctor for further advice.
TIPS & ADVICE
A busy life can be hard on the stomach and anyone can be affected by heartburn, indigestion or trapped wind at some point. But if you often find yourself in discomfort, sometimes just a few simple changes to your lifestyle can really help to ease those uncomfortable symptoms.
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