November is National Heartburn Month! Is this Something to Celebrate?
Do you feel bloated? Is your stomach is churning day and night? To alleviate your heartburn and acid indigestion, do you regularly pop antacid pills? If your answers are yes, you’re not alone. People who work shifts often suffer from gastrointestinal (GI) disease. In fact, up to 75% of night workers have G.I. problems – and peptic ulcers are up to 5 times more frequent. Nearly 40% of shift workers report taking antacids several times a month.[i] According to the National Heartburn Alliance (NHBA), over 25 million Americans suffer from heartburn on a daily basis and most of them attribute it to the foods they eat.
So, if you’re one of the 25 million, or your best buddy or spouse is, what can you do to get help?
The NHBA, which is sponsoring National Heartburn Awareness Month this month (November 2009), recommends you start by classifying the problem as episodic, frequent, or severe heartburn. To do this, the NHBA has an on-line tool, the “Name That Burn Quiz.” The quiz asks twenty simple, multiple choice questions about your signs and symptoms and lifestyle factors. Using the answers given, the quiz’s output is a report that classifies your heartburn level as episodic, frequent, or severe. But, the best part about the report is that it gives you some great ideas about what to do make your symptoms less severe.
Categories addressed during the report section include, among other items, a review of medicines available, a discussion of “night symptoms” (perhaps this should probably be reclassified as Sleep-related symptoms, so as to include the shift working population), and a discussion of smoking and heartburn (approximately 50% of shift workers smoke).
What Causes Heartburn and What can you do to Reduce your Symptoms?
NHBA’s survey data indicates reveals that 58% of frequent heartburn sufferers identify their “hectic lifestyle” as a contributing factor to their heartburn. And most shift workers lives are very stressful. See our recent article for Corporate Wellness Magazine, “Lowering Stress and Anxiety for Shift Workers (and others too!).” In this article we discuss that “when faced with the anxiety that sometimes accompanies working shift work, many people turn to tobacco, drugs (both pharmaceutical and illegal ones) and alcohol as coping mechanisms. While these substances may bring some calm in the short term, they tend to heighten stress and anxiety over the long term. Caffeine may reduce sleepiness and increase alertness temporarily but it can also cause interrupted sleep. Alcohol may shorten the time it takes to fall asleep but it can disrupt sleep later in the night, increasing sleepiness.” All of these coping substances, tobacco, drugs, and alcohol, also contribute to heartburn symptoms.
According to the NHBA, studies indicate that smoking causes the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) to relax. As a result, acidic stomach juices can reflux into the esophagus, resulting in heartburn. One report cited indicated that esophageal acid exposure increased by over 50% after smoking. Interestingly, according to the study, heartburn episodes were more frequent – 114 percent more likely to occur – during the daytime. The NHBA report says that this is when sufferers were standing upright. (The force of gravity should work in heartburn sufferers’ favor during the day.) I wonder if the hours of work and sleep were fully considered during the study, as many shift workers may experience more severe heartburn during the day – when they are lying down and sleeping. Nevertheless, the point is that smoking makes heartburn symptoms worse.
It’s not much of a surprise that 52% of responders to the NHBA survey point to work-related stress as a heartburn aggravator. We spend more of our waking hours at work than any other place else, after all. So what happens at work has a huge impact on us. One idea to help shift workers feel less stress on the job is to ensure they are fully integrated into the company. Read our previous post called, “Integrating Shift Workers into the Overall Business Environment.” Another important work related stress reducer is training. In our post titled, “The Importance of Training for Sustainable, High Performance Shift Work,” we discuss how training managers and shift workers together increases productivity, decreases absenteeism, and enhances adaptability to shift work.
Shift workers suffering from heartburn should make sure to reassess their diet and improve their nutrition as most people with heartburn attribute the foods they eat as a primary cause of their GI troubles. See our post, “Be Careful When and What you Eat When Working Shift Work,” to learn about when and what to eat when working shifts. The ideas included in this post will help you better manage heartburn symptoms.
Lastly, if symptoms continue, discuss your concerns with your health practitioner to make sure your heartburn isn’t a symptom of something more severe.
©2009 Circadian Age, Inc. – ‘Working Nights’
[i] ©2003 Circadian Information LLP, Health in Extended Hours Operations
Tags: chronic problems, drugs, health care prevention, smoking, stress
