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Focus on Mental Health to Reduce Heartburn
Heartburn from acid reflux or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) can seriously interfere with your quality of life. It can make the very thought of eating or drinking a trigger food a source of distress. Going to bed at night can start to become something you dread because you know a burning stomach and chest will be keeping you up for a large chunk of the night. Not only are these symptoms annoying, acid reflux can lead to inflammation in the esophagus which, if left unchecked, can have more concerning consequences.
Acid reflux is often a stubborn thing to manage. It requires tackling the situation from a number of different angles. Mindfulness mediation is one of those angles that is starting to be explored by researchers. While there are multiple promising studies on mindfulness for IBS, research on how mindfulness can improve acid reflux symptoms is still emerging. Hopefully more, larger studies will be coming out in the near future. That being said, there is minimal risk in starting mindfulness meditation, and much to be gained even beyond potential benefits to your reflux symptoms.
A number of studies have found an association between acid reflux symptoms and anxiety. Researchers are proposing that stress and anxiety management should be included into treatment plans for acid reflux. As a naturopathic doctor with a practice that focuses strongly on mental health, I constantly see improvements in digestive symptoms when strategies like mindfulness meditation are prescribed to patients.
But how can stress and anxiety lead to acid reflux? Acid reflux can happen when the barrier between the stomach and the esophagus is not working well enough. The barrier is not doing a good job of staying closed when it should, so acid sloshes back up from the stomach to the esophagus. It’s possible that increased anxiety and stress can interfere with the effectiveness of this barrier. High stress and anxiety could also make you more sensitive to the sensation of acid in the esophagus.
In practice, I encourage all of my patients with these symptoms to practice at least 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation and deep belly breathing daily. I also encourage additional meditation or belly breathing during episodes of heartburn. When combined with other recommendations, adding stress management into the mix may be a key way to get a better handle on heartburn.
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Which Meditation Apps are the Best?
Meditation and mindfulness have been scientifically shown to reduce stress, overwhelm and anxiety. There are a lot of different meditation apps out there, so I decided to give you my take on some of the most popular ones to help you decide which one you might want to try.
Headspace
Headspace has a very clean, quality feel. It’s one of the most popular meditation apps. It has clever animations to teach you about meditation. It looks nice and is easy to use and you can choose between a male or female voice. Making an account gives you access to 10 free sessions and after that you can decide if you want to subscribe or just continue repeating the free sessions.
Calm
This is another highly popular meditation app. It has a lot of variety and several free meditations. It has a pleasant and comforting feel. There’s the option to have background music with your meditations (a feature that Headspace lacks). I love that this app also has a website version as well.
Insight Timer
This app probably has the most free meditations but the quality, voices used and topics vary widely. You can filter your meditations for things like duration, secular topics, spiritual topics, background music or no background music and so on - but the filters don’t always work as expected.
Smiling Mind
This is my go-to app for kids. It’s used a lot in schools in the UK. You can pick the meditation based on the age of the child. The instructor explains the meditation in a way that kids will understand. It’s full of free meditations.
Buddhify
This app allows you to pick different meditations for different situations (e.g. when you’re angry, when you’re waiting around etc.). You can get it for a small fee.
Meditation and Relaxation (By Fitness 22)
This app reminds me a lot of Headspace. It’s very clean looking and straightforward. It has a fair amount of free meditations and it has the option for background music.
The best mediation app for you will depend on your personal preferences. Try some of these out for yourself and see which one is the best fit for you. If you’re ready to dig deeper and take the next step towards reducing your stress and anxiety, click HERE to learn more about my 8 Week Anxiety Program.
(Disclaimer: I do not officially endorse anything mentioned on this page. These are just some of my favourite resources that I wanted to share with you. I don’t receive any personal gain by recommending these resources.)