Lifestyle Changes

Most doctors agree that there are certain lifestyle changes that can greatly reduce the symptoms of GERD.   Some are easier to accommodate than others.  They fall into three main categories:

1. Food Trigger Elimination
2. Weight Loss
3. Using Gravity to Your Advantage
4. Dressing for Comfort

Food Trigger Elimination is discussed in a separate post on this site.  The key to remember is that there are specific foods that probably affect everyone to a certain degree or another.  However, there are some that may be unique to you.   It is especially important to eliminate the foods that cause the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES) to malfunction or open at inappropriate times.  Those foods are anything fatty, chocolate, alcohol and caffeine (yes, tea and coffee, even the decaf varieties).  Then view the foods listed on the Triggers Page and begin to eliminate them from you diet.  The diet is a basic high fiber, low fat approach with a couple of foods on the “no no” list that will cause burning.  Its not easy.  But, if I can quit drinking coffee and give up tomato sauce and wine, anyone can!!

Weight Loss will be a natural outcome of the diet changes you make if you follow the no fat rule.  Extra weight, especially around the midsection, puts pressure on the stomach and causes the LES to open at teh wrong times.  So, losing that weight is going to help reduce symptoms.  Try adding some mild exercise like walking to your routine.  I find that a nice brisk walk helps with moving the food out of our stomach and increases weight loss.  Heck we all know its good for our heart, too.  So, maybe this is the time you finally do what is right for your whole body.  If you get bored with walking, visit Discover Walking for ideas to keep your walks interesting.

Using Gravity to Your Advantage.  Picture a water pouch used when you go hiking.  It has a screw lid to keep the water in.  But, without a lid  it is just like your stomach when the LES is open.  If you lay it on its side, the liquid will flow out.  So, to reduce damage to your esophagus you need to use gravity to help keep the liquid in the stomach where it belongs.  This is especially important within 3 hours of eating.  Never lay down flat until at least this much time has gone by.  When your stomach is full, it is much more likely that you will experience reflux.  When you do lay down, you should sleep at a slant by using a special pillow (NOT a regular bed pillow) or put the head of your bed up on blocks at least 8″ high.  This reduces nighttime reflux that a lot of people don’t even realize they have.  There are alot of GERD pillows out there online and in medical pharmacies.  Just make sure they are at least 7 or 8 inches high at the top.

Dressing for Comfort.  Picture a water pouch.  If you squeeze it with the cap off, the water comes up and out, right?  The same thing happens with your stomach when you wear clothes tight around the middle if you suffer from GERD.  So, wear clothes that fit a little looser through the mid section.  I know those tight jeans look good.  But, is it really worth the pain and damage to your esophagus?  You don’t have to wear frumpy looking things, just pay attention to the fit.