Acid Reflux Causes: Our Mothers Were Right

There are many acid reflux causes, and our mothers were right when they tried to tell us how to eat our food properly and not bolt it down.

There's nothing quite like eating out at your favourite Mexican restaurant and gorging yourself on all that wonderfully spicy food, washed down with a few beers before you have to quickly rush off to catch that film at the cinema.  Except, that you'd be enjoying that film a whole lot more if it wasn't for the fact that you were almost doubled up in pain.  Quietly convincing yourself that you are not in fact having a heart attack, you accept that you may just have overdone things again.

Heartburn is a very common symptom of indigestion, and most of us have some vague ideas about what causes it, and how we can therefore avoid it. Much of this understanding tends to come from what our mothers told us about not bolting our food, chewing properly, not rushing about straight after a meal, and having a bit of quiet time after an evening meal before going to bed. As adults, we tend to feel we know better, and promptly go right ahead and make all the mistakes our mothers told us would cause us indigestion, and then we're astonished when we get it.

Surprisingly, much of the advice our mothers gave us is actually correct, but it doesn't just stop at eating spicy foods, running about straight afterwards or sleeping on a full stomach. When they told us not to smoke and to be sensible about drinking alcohol, they may well have been also trying to spare us the pain of acid reflux, since these are closely related to the condition.

To understand what's going on with heartburn, it's helpful to know not only what causes it, but how it is caused.  We all have a good idea that digestion starts off in the mouth, with our food chewed and mixed with saliva that begins the break down. Once we swallow, it tends to feel like the job's done, but it's really only just begun. The pipe that runs down from the throat to the stomach is a long tube of muscles which contract in rhythm to squeeze the food down. This is called the esophagus, and it is the fact that it is the muscles that squeeze the food down, rather than gravity pulling it down, that allows us to swallow and eat even upside down - although this isn't recommended as it's highly likely to result in heartburn.

The real key to the various acid reflux causes and indigestion is what happens when this esophagus meets the stomach. There is a valve made up of strong muscles which allows food and liquid to enter the stomach, but traps the contents of the stomach safely inside, including all of the acids which slosh around in there that break the food down. This valve is called the lower esophageal sphincter, and if this becomes weakened or damaged in some way, then acids from the stomach can escape back up into the esophagus - causing the burning sensation in the chest.

Although occasional opening of the lower esophageal sphincter when it shouldn't, allowing this reflux or escape of acid into the esophagus is fairly normal, and nothing to worry about, if it happens very regularly, it may be a sign of something more serious, called gastroesophageal reflux disease.

So what causes the lower esophageal sphincter to become weakened in the first place or at least slightly open when it shouldn't? There are a number of possible causes, and people can be more or less susceptible to different factors. The most common causes are eating foods high in acids, such as citrus fruits, drinking alcohol, which relaxes muscles, and also smoking cigarettes. People with conditions such as asthma or diabetes can also find themselves more prone to this problem, and doubly so when combined with eating acidic foods, smoking or drinking.

Other causes can include eating foods which are especially fatty, including fried foods, as these tend to slow down the whole digestive process, resulting in food sitting around in the stomach for longer than normal. This puts extra pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter, which can result in reflux. Surprisingly, tomatoes achieve the exact same thing, and so plopping a couple of tomatoes in with your fried breakfast isn't going to help as much as you'd think. It almost goes without saying, but eating  a particularly large meal can also cause excess pressure on the stomach, as can lying down after a meal, as the food tends to push against the lower esophageal sphincter and allow the seeping through of acid.

 Additionally, regardless of what you have eaten, excessive pressure on the stomach, and particularly on the lower esophageal sphincter region, can result in acid reflux.  However, such simple things as bending over or squatting can also cause this, and both pregnant women and overweight people will find that they are very much more likely to suffer in this way. Even just wearing tight clothing can cause very unpleasant pain, let alone the heartburn, and so if going out to that spicy Mexican then make sure you wear something loose, as corsets are unadvisable.

For some, their acid reflux causes are not so simple, and have real medical reasons, and if it becomes a chronic condition then you should seek medical advice.

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