What are the ways you can manage Acidity?

Dr. Amrita Basu Misra

3 min readJan 12, 2019

Acid reflux is a very common problem.It may be the one diseases that all Indians suffer one time or the other.Sur

You may have higher risk of Reflux disorders if :

Older age
Nonvegetarian
diet high in fried food/fatty food
Too much of Aerated drinksTea/coffee
Alcohol
Smoking
Too little sleep
No exercise
Overweight
Chronic stressors in life

Why should you change your habits now?Reflux spoils the quality of your life.

But the real fear is the risk of these:

Barrett’s esophagus
Adenocarcinoma of esophagus
Adenocarcinoma of gastric cardia

What you should do today to save your today and tomorrow

Why don’t we discuss lifestyle changes ?

There are easy and safe medicines for acid reflux disease .
Most patients improve from their use.
Changing habits take time,patience and real persistence.
You lack motivation.
Doctor’s are overworked and don’t have time to discuss in detail how this could save your life and money.
Taking medicine is easier than giving up alcohol smoking tea,coffee,fries.etc.etc.

Doctors and patients both forget to use these very real and effective life habits which can make your disease manageable with less or no medicines.Sometimes even when you know all this, you choose not to try.

Positive lifestyle habits take time and during that time you will probably have to take medicines to keep yourself symptom free.

Do you need to give up everything you love:NO Moderation is the key

Lacking motivation?

All the lifestyle changes aimed to decrease reflux will have the added benefit of you loosing weight,feeling fitter and looking better!So why don’t you do them? Start today change one habit at a time

Lifestyle modifications to get rid of GERD/Reflux

Don’t snack close to bedtime.
Have your meals at least 3 hours before going to bed.
Don’t lie on your back at least till 3 hours after a full meal.
Avoid too much use of over the counter painkillers.
Have multiple small meals at intervals and not 3 large meals.
Avoid over eating.Eat slowly and concentrate on chewing your food well.
Drink plenty of water( 4 to 6 l/day)
Stop smoking and drinking alcohol(this may be difficult, but think mind over matter).
Exercise at least, 3 hours after meals.
Sleep at least 7 hours.
During the time you are changing your habits if night-time reflux irritates,you may try elevating head end of bed about 20 to 30 degree with bricks.
Get rid of excess weight.
Avoidcarbonated drinks(occasional is okay),excessive tea/coffee(2 to 3 regular cups over 24 hours and not at bedtime) ,deep fried food,Chocolates,Over seasoned food(spices like red chilli,garam masala)

Excessively fatty food too many citrus food, too much garlic/onion. The removal of these food items are necessaryonly when you see increased discomfort after having them.

Hope this helps.

I have written an article Lifestyle modifications : Reflux no more

http://healthwealthbridge.com/lifestyle-modifications-reflux-no/

Thanks for reading.I am Dr.Amrita Basu. Doctor-Blogger, mompreneur, voracious bookworm and a passionate urban gardener.
I blog at Healthwealthbridge
http://healthwealthbridge.com/blog

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If you have a question you can write to me at dramrita@healthwealthbridge.com.