Heartburn is basically a digestive illness that can be prevented or least lessened in its frequency through lifestyle modifications. Heartburn happens when our stomach acid refluxes and comes in to contact with our esophagus. This irritates our esophagus and causes us to feel a burning sensation starting from the diaphragm all the way behind our breastbone. If you still suffer from heartburn symptoms despite making lifestyle changes and using antacids, it may be a sign that you are suffering from a more serious condition where heartburn is only a symptom. If this is so, then your health care provider or doctor may prescribe you some of these drugs. After antacids, the next group of drugs that you may need to take for easing heartburn symptoms is histamine-2 blockers. You will see that this will make a lot of difference. Baking soda is also a great way to treat heartburn. Drink water with baking soda that next time you feel the symptoms of heartburn. However, although this will help ease the pain as it will neutralize the acid in your stomach, it is only a short term solution. This can cause scarring in your esophagus, which will make it difficult for you to swallow food or even liquids. Chronic heartburn can also lead to Barrett s esophagus, which is a condition where cells that resemble those of the stomach lining will start to develop. This kind of damage to the esophagus can increase your risk in developing cancer of the esophagus, which is very hard to detect and very hard to treat. Elevate your body position when you sleep with pillows in order to make gravity work for you by keeping stomach acid inside the stomach. These are the common causes of heartburn. As you can see, there are ways on how you can prevent heartburn from happening or at least manage it effectively. It s just a matter of making small lifestyle modifications, such as changing your diet and exercise routines. After eating, you need to avoid lying down as this is the best position for the stomach acid to flow back or reflux in to your esophagus. If you are suffering from nighttime heartburn, the best thing that you can do is to elevate your head when you lie down. But, don t try using more pillows to do this as this can worsen heartburn as it will increase pressure on your stomach.