What is Heartburn:

If we talk about heartburn, then it is basically referred to as the burning sensation and pain in the chest region of an individual. This pain generally becomes more worse when the effected individual eats anything, lays down or bends over. This heartburn has various causes out of which some leading causes include being overweight, consuming a lot of alcohol and cigarettes, eating spicy foods and not managing one’s eating habits. It has various remedies that can help an individual to overcome this stressful situation. These remedies include elevating the upper body part, standing and managing one’s eating habits. Apart from this consuming ginger and taking baking soda in water are also known to be very much beneficial for individuals who are suffering from heartburn.

What is Anxiety?

If we consider anxiety, then it is basically referred to as the natural response of the body towards the stress. Anxiety is basically concerned with the feeling of worry and tension. We can say that anxiety is an emotion in itself and this emotion is related to worrying and feelings of tension. Main symptoms of anxiety include restlessness along with irritation and discomfort. A person suffering from anxiety also faces difficulties in sleeping. If we take into consideration the causes that are linked with anxiety, then these causes may include environmental stressors, genetics and some psychological issues.

Anxiety and heartburn

Well, in my opinion anxiety and heartburn do have a close relation or connection between them. It is said that anxiety or stress do have an impact on the heartburn condition and are also involved in making the heartburn condition more worse. It can also be stated in this way that the heartburn causes stress for an individual and this stress in return triggers the anxiety. This statement means that stress can increase and elevate heartburn condition and this stress is directly linked with the anxiety. Therefore, one can say that indeed anxiety and heartburn or acid reflux are linked with each other. If we talk about the relation between anxiety and heartburn in a more logical way, then we see that anxiety has a direct effect on the muscles of stomach. Due to anxiety, the pressure on the sphincter muscles of stomach is reduced and because of this reduction of pressure on the sphincter muscles, the stomach acid could easily backflow into the esophagus and ultimately leading to heartburn condition. It is also known that stress does have a prominent impact on the muscles tension. This pressure and force on stomach also results in acid reflux. Apart from all of this, there is also another aspect to this relation between anxiety and acid reflux and this is that anxiety also triggers and enhances the production of stomach acid in a large quantity. Therefore, in this phenomenon, anxiety also has a prominent impact on heartburn or acid reflux.

Also, it has been noted that anxiety and some related psychological issues do have an affect on the mobility of esophagus. This esophagal mobility is disturbed and as a result, the acid backflow becomes quite easy. It also affects the esophagal sphincter and all of this basically allows the acid to flow back towards the esophagus. There is also another link present between the two conditions. We know that for an individual who is suffering from acid reflux or heartburn, it is not easy to lay down or sleep in an easy manner. Similarly, in anxiety, the individual feels difficulty and a kind of disruption in their sleeping patterns. Therefore, this is also a connecting link between these two conditions. This disrupted sleep is common in both of these situations.

Conclusion

Therefore, what I conclude about the above stated discussion is that indeed acid reflux or heartburn and anxiety do have a relation among each other. Anxiety impacts the muscles of stomach and is also concerned with putting more pressure or tension on the muscles, therefore not allowing the muscles to work properly and especially in case of lower sphincter muscles of stomach, this disturbance results in leading towards the heartburn condition. This abnormal movement of lower esophagal sphincter muscles causes the stomach acid to backflow into the esophagus and ultimately leading to heartburn. So this was the connection or link between anxiety and heartburn.