December: month of parties, month of eating. And unfortunately, heartburn is never far away. Dr. Jeroen Schuitenmaker has been researching the University of Amsterdam and has come up with a surprisingly simple solution: sleep on your left side.
What exactly is heartburn?
‘When stomach acid backs up into the esophagus, so-called reflux, you can suffer from ‘heartburn.’ This produces an uncomfortable burning sensation behind the breastbone and in the throat. Everyone has it at times, such as after eating a greasy meal or when bending over to tie your shoelaces. There is nothing wrong with that, stomach acid naturally flows back into the stomach.
Some people suffer from it more often. For example, this could be due to a gastric valve that no longer closes properly or a rupture of the diaphragm. This is a membrane that separates the chest from the stomach and intestines. If that reef no longer connects properly to your stomach valve, you’re more likely to have heartburn. Other important causes are obesity and smoking.’
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You don’t smoke with your stomach, do you?
“Oh, no, but research shows that smoking relaxes the gastric valve. As a result, it closes less well.
Excess weight is disadvantageous because it presses the excess fat on the stomach, causing the acid to leak out sooner. Fatty food is harder to digest. This requires the necessary acid. If you ate a lot of fat, your stomach is full with a lot of acid.’
What exactly did you study?
“I started looking for treatment options for heartburn. In my literature search I came across a small, old study from the 80s. It was concluded that sleeping on the right side led to more stomach acid in the esophagus. Nothing has been scientifically done with this. I wanted to check it right away. Would sleeping on the left side reduce heartburn?
To find out, I found a hundred people who were willing to attach a device to their chest at night, which vibrated when they turned to their right side. So that they turned to the left side again. In half of the participants, the device vibrated all night, in the other half, the control group, only during the first twenty minutes of sleep. That group therefore slept “normally” for the most part: on the left, back, and right. This allowed me to correctly measure the effect of sleeping on the left side on heartburn.
I asked all participants to indicate when and how much it bothered them. In a later study I inserted a tube into participants’ esophagus, so I could actually see how much acid was actually flowing into their esophagus.’
In?
“Sleeping on the left side actually leads to less heartburn.” 44 percent of participants in the first group, in which the device vibrated all night when they slept on their right side, had fewer complaints. This was only 24% in the control group.
Mind you, this does not mean that the left temple is the egg of Columbus. But now it has been scientifically proven that sleeping on your left side helps prevent heartburn. It’s good that this is known. Not all doctors are aware of this.’
What is the secret of that left side?
“The stomach is on the left side of the abdomen, the liver is on the right. If you are lying on your left side, your stomach is underneath and it is therefore more difficult for the acid to flow up into your esophagus. It’s that simple. Left is right.’
What do you recommend to the reader with the upcoming Christmas drinks, Christmas dinners and oliebollen?
‘First of all, have fun. If you’re prone to heartburn, eat and drink in moderation. Also, make sure there is as much time as possible between your last meal or drink and bedtime so that the food is already out of your stomach by the time you go to bed. In bed, a raised pillow helps so that the chest is higher than the stomach and the acid doesn’t flow easily into the esophagus. And then of course: sleep on your left side.
If that doesn’t help, you can take an antacid. Like Rennie. It’s actually nothing more than a crayon with a flavor on it. This dissolves in the stomach acid, which is consequently neutralized. If lifestyle adjustments or an antacid don’t work, your doctor may prescribe a trial antacid.
Gastric acid blockers were discovered in the 1970s. That was a groundbreaking discovery at the time. Until then, many people suffered from stomach ulcers, often due to stomach bacteria. This is actually a wound on the stomach wall, which gets bigger and bigger from the acid. At the time, this sometimes led to stomach operations, which are not without risk. Thanks to the invention of the antacid, this is now a thing of the past.’
Maybe a little rigorous, but does a finger in the throat help?
‘I absolutely do not recommend it for heartburn. Then more acid will come out and this is bad for the esophagus. If necessary, drink warm milk, which will make your stomach less acidic.’
