If you regularly get heartburn, it may be possible to reduce the effects by making some easy modifications in your habits. You may not need to go on medication or have a surgical procedure to repair the problem.

Since most people get heartburn before bed, it's best to restrict your nighttime snacking. If feasible, eat the last meal of the day 3-4 hours before bed. The message is clear...don't snack before bed.

What you choose to eat can be as crucial as when you eat when it comes to doing away with heartburn. Foods that contain high acid content may make it more possible to suffer from heartburn. Reduce your consumption of beverages such as tomato juice or drinks with caffeine.

Simply because you imagine that the foods you are enjoying are okay, does not mean that food won't produce indigestion and produce acid. Spicy food items such as peppers, or high-fat food items such as candy may result in indigestion. Foods that use tomato sauce, like pasta, are really a problem when it comes to heartburn and need to be limited.

You should also avoid consuming big portions. Try not to overeat at when you eat. If your belly is overly full, the food literally gets forced back up into the esophagus, and since it's blended with acid in your stomach, it produces a burning feeling.





Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frank_Hagan

Coronary heart disease is the most common form of heart disease. Significant numbers of individuals suffer heart attacks and an even larger proportion die as a result of heart complications. Heart disease is not only the most common cause of premature deaths but it is also a major factor in disability and illness around the world.

Heart disease is caused by the narrowing or hardening of the arteries which supply blood to our heart muscle. The narrower the coronary arteries in your system, the less effective the blood flow and as a consequence the harder your heart has to work.

When exercising, our hearts are required to work much harder and demands more oxygen. Individuals classed as healthy will simply increase the requirement of blood supply to the muscle however, if you are suffering from coronary heart disease, the narrowed arteries cannot maintain this process. The resultant symptoms of pain and shortness of breath is classified as angina. Should any of the arteries become fully blocked and no blood can pass to that section of the heart you may suffer a heart attack which could lead to cardiac arrest.

There are many aspects to our lives which influence our risk of developing coronary heart disease and here we look at some of these risks you can influence, and some of them you cannot;

Risks you cannot influence

1. Being a man or a female following menopause.
2. The ageing process
3. Family history of disease

Risks you can influence

1. Excessive weight gain
2. Smoking
3. High blood pressure
4. High cholesterol levels
5. Stress
6. Insufficient exercise

The fitter your physical general well-being the less likely you will be to develop heart problems. It is also widely acknowledged that individuals who undertake regular exercise are additionally far more likely to survive a heart attack if they had one. The most beneficial form of exercise to help strengthen our hearts is aerobic exercise. This can be any repetitive exercise activity which involves the large muscles of the legs and arms. Simply walking briskly or jogging or cycling on a regular basis can be sufficient to ensure your heart works much more efficiently.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jamie_Noone

One simple truth most people have not come to appreciate is the fact that 60% of heart failures are directly or indirectly caused by high blood pressure or hypertension as it's called in some quarters. The blood pressure is increased when there is narrowing of blood vessels supplying blood to different organs; a phenomenon known as Peripheral Resistance. As expected, if the pipes from an overhead tank are partly or completely blocked, more water would be pulled back into the tank. If the tank has elastic property, it expands or becomes tense.

This same phenomenon occurs when the blood vessels are narrowed. At first, the part of the blood vessel before the narrowed point gets filled with blood and expands to accommodate the back flow. Since the heart is the source and the pumping machine, more blood is retained in the heart. In an attempt to pump the blood against resistant (the narrowed blood vessels), more labour is placed on the muscles of the heart.

Generally, the muscles of the body enlarge when subjected to work, for example extreme exercise, gymnastics etc. In the same way, the muscles of the heart begin to increase in the same way, the muscles of the heart begin to increase in size when overloaded; a condition known as size when overloaded; a condition known as Cardiomegaly. Initially, this structural enlargement appears compensatory in nature but with time, the heart begins to perform below its optimal potential. In a state of poor pumping performance, the heart is said to be in failure; Hypertensive Heart Failure.

Friend, Hypertension has been said to be one of the 4 major killer disease,

Are You Ready To Defeat Your High Blood Pressure? Or do you want that hypertension to send you to your early grave?

I guess you wouldn't!




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hye_Rob

Ulcers are formed in the stomach when acid in the stomach comes into contact with unprotected tissues. Mostly, the stomach protects itself naturally against this acid burn, but occasionally this protection breaks down for some reason. The result is basically an open sore that develops on the lining of the stomach. Most people used to think that an ulcer was caused by stress or by eating too much spicy food. While either of these can cause more acid in the stomach, it has now been found that ulcers are caused by H. pylori, but only when certain conditions are present. In fact, many people have H. pylori in their gut, but never develop ulcers.

Another cause of ulcers is when certain medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications are taken over the long-term for whatever reason. Not only do these drugs cause more acid to form in the stomach, they block the production of prostaglandin, which helps to prevent injury and maintains blood flow. To a lesser extent, radiation therapy, excessive alcohol consumption and burns can also cause ulcers.

Probiotics have been found to be an effective and useful aid in helping to heal ulcers. Used alone, they cannot heal an ulcer. But when used in addition to other traditional forms of treatment, Probiotics not only help the healing process, but also prevent certain unpleasant side effects caused by the treatment.

What exactly, are probiotics? They are friendly bacteria of various kinds that have a positive effect on the overall health of the gut. The best known one is the probiotic found in yogurt, Lactobacillus acidophilus, but there are many other kinds. Lactobacillus Reuteri is another probiotic that is found naturally in the gut. It not only helps to boost the immune system, but it helps the body to absorb certain nutrients such as minerals, needed for optimum health.

While not quite strong enough to kill off H. pylori the bacterium that causes ulcers, on their own, probiotics certainly inhibit its growth.

If you have severe abdominal pain it is not wise to self-diagnose and treat, but the advice of a health-care provider should be sought immediately. Ulcers are dangerous and should never be left untreated. However, with prompt treatment many nasty complications can be avoided and the ulcer can almost certainly be cured. Just be sure that your doctor also prescribes probiotics in addition to any other treatment.

In the case of the traditional triple therapy of two antibiotics and an acid blocker, additional probiotic treatment will not only enhance recovery, but also help to stop unpleasant side effects such as nausea, vomiting, metallic taste in the mouth, diarrhea, and headache. And since the success rate of this traditional treatment seems to be becoming less effective - probably due to the resistance of H. pylori to antibiotics - it is certainly a wise step to provide other non-antibiotic treatment that can and does help recovery. And even without recovery enhancement, who wouldn't want symptoms such as those listed above eliminated if at all possible?




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marc_Courtiol