As our time spent working and commuting has increased in the past few decades, our lifestyles have changed. We have tried to become more efficient and save time elsewhere.
A study has just been presented at the 13th International Nursing Conference which researched how many of these lifestyle changes contribute to the occurrence of acid reflux.
This condition has become widespread globally, with approximately 33% of people worldwide suffering from it.
The study revealed 17 triggers for acid reflux — triggers you can eliminate today.
To find out which lifestyle factors trigger acid reflux, researchers consulted existing studies on the topic from the Scopus medical database.
To make sure that the data was recent enough to be relevant, they limited their search to studies published from 2017 to 2022.
They found 15 studies to review with a total of 56,379 subjects.
Based on the results of these studies, the strongest risk factors for acid reflux were the following:
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1. High stress levels
2. Coffee drinking
3. Lack of physical exercise
4. Alcohol consumption
5. Abnormally high or low body mass index scores
6. Smoking
7. The consumption of high-fat and fried foods
8. The consumption of very large meals
9. Obesity
10. Low education level
11. Depression
12. The consumption of sour foods
13. The consumption of lots of sweet foods
14. A history of high blood pressure
15. Lack of sleep
16. The habitual consumption of midnight snacks
17. The skipping of breakfast
These are all lifestyle habits that are relatively easy to change, and most of them are related to our busy, rushed lives.
And you may only have to change a handful of these habits to experience strong results.