Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : July 10, 2018 9:24 PM IST
When you suffer from acidity one particular problem is how to sleep or lie down to get maximum comfort. Wondering why we are not telling you to pop antacids? Well, at times even after having antacids one fails to get any comfort. At such times, trying to lie to get some relief seems to be like the right thing to do. But lying down doesn't give you any relief; sometimes it might even aggravate the accompanying abdominal pain. It takes a lot of trial and error to find a sleeping position that can provide relief during acidity. But mostly it is seen that sleeping on the left side helps one to get some relief. Here are 10 simple changes that can prevent heartburn and acidity.
Now, this isn't just a random fact there are studies that support this sleeping position to provide relief during acidity or GERD. For long experts have debated whether sleeping on the right or left will provide relief from acidity. A very old study which dates back to 1994 tried to explore these two sleeping position and how it benefitted people who suffered from postprandial reflux which means the acidity that one experienced during the night or just after a meal. Here are five quick fixes for acidity you can try at home.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology which was done in two parts. It took into account how the participants felt when they slept on their left side versus when they slept on their right side. Most of them reported that sleeping on the right aggravated the symptom as compared to sleeping on the left. The direct comparison of the two positions demonstrated that the total amount of reflux time was significantly greater in people who slept on the right side (lasting for 231 min) than in the left (lasting for 117 min). Although total episodes of reflux were greater when lying on the right side (227), compared with the left (198), the difference was not significant. In addition, average overall acid clearance was significantly prolonged when one slept on the right side as compared to the left side.
So, next time you face a problem of reflux at night try sleeping on your left side to give yourself some relief. Even if you pop an antacid this position still helps. Alternatively, you can try some yoga positions before going to bed to improve your digestion and reduce chances of GERD or acidity.
Reference:
1: Katz LC, Just R, Castell DO. Body position affects recumbent postprandial reflux. J Clin Gastroenterol. 1994 Jun;18(4):280-3. PubMed PMID: 8071510.
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