Ageing and why you can't enjoy a big meal without getting heartburn like before
Eating is i of the greatest pleasures in life, and you might feel similar your torso has let yous down when your digestive arrangement starts to turn in a less-than-stellar functioning equally y'all age.
What's up with your body? In this instalment of My Gut Feeling, we look at heartburn.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY GUT?
You used to enjoy sumptuous buffets of every kind. Steamboat and hefty steak dinners? The bigger, the better. The more than, the merrier.
There was nothing you could put into your mouth that your stomach couldn't handle, not even regular tardily-night suppers of prata, mee goreng and all the teh halia you could chug.
READ: Why you lot might go allergic to shellfish, nuts or even bird'southward nest with age
Simply lately, your digestive system seems to be interim upwards, especially later a large meal. Your digestive juices feel like they're flowing back upwardly your oesophagus. You know that's happening because yous can feel a burn in your chest and a bitter, sour gustation at the dorsum of your throat: All archetype signs of heartburn.
More unusually, "a persistent sore pharynx and chronic cough" can also be signs of acid reflux, said Adjunct Associate Professor Reuben Wong, a gastroenterologist at gutCARE Gleneagles.
If signs of acid reflux keep occurring – more than twice a calendar week – you lot may have gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD, according to the Healthline website.
If signs of acid reflux keep occurring – more than twice a calendar week – you may have gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD.
So why don't the digestive juices stay where they should be – your stomach?
Ordinarily, the lower oesophageal sphincter (LES), a circular ring of musculus found at the end of the oesophagus, tightens and closes later you swallow to hold the digestive juices in the tummy.
Just when the LES isn't working properly, the digestive juices escape, creating that familiar burning awareness in the breast.
WHY IS Information technology Merely HAPPENING NOW THAT I'M OLDER?
In that location are a few reasons why yous take acid reflux or GERD.
One, the LES begins "to become lax and is not every bit tight", said Dr Wong. Only similar the other muscles in your body, the LES also weakens with historic period.
READ: Is it just indigestion? Why information technology's harder to savour buffets and suppers every bit yous get sometime
Another reason is your gut motility, said Dr Wong. Equally you lot go older, your gut motility slows down, which ways that "nutrient doesn't empty out of the tummy rapidly enough, resulting in a higher take a chance of information technology backing up into the oesophagus", he explained.
If you're wondering why you're experiencing heartburn while your counterparts at work can still happily social club upward big servings of fried beehoon for breakfast, it really is the luck of the anatomical draw.
"Each person is special and unique, and in that location are small differences in anatomy that tin can upshot in this," said Dr Wong.
READ: Bye bye, ice cream and milk tea? Lactose intolerance gets worse with age – here'due south why
Besides, the older yous get, the more health bug can ingather upwards – and they, along with the medication you lot take for them, can boost the heartburn.
"Some claret pressure and antidepressant medications can cause heartburn," said gastroenterologist Dr Scott Gabbard with Cleveland Clinic on its website. "Being overweight and taking certain medications may be the major driving factors for heartburn."
WHAT'Southward THE SOLUTION?
If yous're balky to taking medicine, yous'll be glad to know that "lifestyle measures tin exist surprisingly effective", said Dr Wong.
"These include eating smaller portions at each repast, and not eating or drinking 2 hours before bedtime." Losing and managing your weight too help, he added.
Another play tricks is to avert certain foods, said Dr Jacqueline Wolf, a gastroenterologist and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
These include mint, fatty foods, spicy foods, tomatoes, onions, garlic, coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, chocolate and alcohol. Best to quit smoking, besides, as nicotine relaxes the LES, she said.
READ: Can't eat too much spicy nutrient these days? The link between getting old and chilli
Subsequently a meal, try to avoid vigorous exercise for a couple of hours, advised Dr Wolf on the Harvard Health Publishing website.
This tin can help the digestive acid stay in the breadbasket instead of sending it into your oesophagus, especially if the activity involves bending over.
When it comes to sleeping, it may be a proficient thought to heighten your head 15cm to 20cm college than your feet. A foam wedge is a amend bet than stacked pillows as the latter doesn't create a uniform support, said Dr Wolf.
But if you're swell to attempt medications, in that location are acid suppressants such every bit proton pump inhibitors too as antacids to neutralise acid in the oesophagus, said Dr Wong.
"In severe persistent cases, there is a surgical option known every bit a fundoplication to tighten the LES."
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/heartburn-acid-reflux-oesophagus-sore-throat-cough-236156
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