{"id":3119,"date":"2026-08-17T23:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/?p=3119"},"modified":"2026-08-17T23:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:32:37","slug":"how-your-sleeping-position-can-affect-heartburn-and-acid-reflux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/?p=3119","title":{"rendered":"How Your Sleeping Position Can Affect Heartburn and Acid Reflux"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Falling asleep can be difficult when heartburn frequently interrupts your nights.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/doctoranywhere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Good-Sleep.jpg\" alt=\"4 Surprising Health Risks Caused by Poor Sleep | Blog | Doctor Anywhere\" width=\"595\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Along with elevating your upper body with a wedge pillow, avoiding meals shortly before bedtime, and using heartburn medication, some evidence suggests that sleeping on your left side may help ease symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>A small study published in the February 2022 issue of <em>The American Journal of Gastroenterology<\/em> followed 57 people with chronic heartburn. Participants were monitored while sleeping and spent roughly equal amounts of time on their left side, right side, and back.<\/p>\n<p>Although sleeping position did not significantly change how often stomach acid flowed back into the esophagus, the acid cleared much more quickly when participants slept on their left side compared with sleeping on their back or right side. Spending less time exposed to stomach acid may help reduce heartburn discomfort and lower the risk of irritation or tissue damage.<\/p>\n<p>Sleeping on your right side every night may worsen acid reflux and heartburn because this position can make it easier for stomach contents to move upward into the esophagus.<\/p>\n<h3>Main Health Effects<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Acid reflux:<\/strong> Sleeping on your right side may encourage stomach acid to move toward the esophagus, potentially causing the familiar burning sensation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slower acid clearance:<\/strong> In this position, stomach acid may remain in the esophagus longer than it does when you sleep on your left side.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Joint pressure:<\/strong> Staying on the same side throughout the night can place concentrated pressure on the shoulder and hip, potentially causing discomfort or strain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Better Alternatives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sleep on your left side:<\/strong> This position helps keep the stomach below the esophagus, while gravity may make it more difficult for acid to travel upward.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Elevate your upper body:<\/strong> If changing sleeping positions is uncomfortable or difficult, raising your upper body with an incline may help keep stomach contents down and reduce nighttime reflux.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Falling asleep can be difficult when heartburn frequently interrupts your nights. Along with elevating your upper body with a wedge pillow, avoiding meals shortly before bedtime, and&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mdrssa_facebook_image":"","_mdrssa_unique_id":"","_mdrssa_normalized_url":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3120,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3119\/revisions\/3120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lateststories.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}