This will help in decreasing the production of stomach acid. Also, you should try eating your food slowly as this will be able to help reduce the symptoms of heartburn. Secondly, you need to avoid certain foods. If you love spicy food, such as Mexican food, then you may want to cut back on this type of food while you are pregnant. If this is the case, then you may want to go to your doctor and have it checked. Leaving chronic heartburn untreated can lead to more severe complications that will significantly have a negative effect on your life. So, what causes heartburn and why should you take it seriously? For starters, heartburn happens when the stomach acid refluxes or backs up in to the esophagus. Your chest feels like it s on fire and the pain is radiating from your diaphragm to your throat. The pain is accompanied by a bitter or sour taste and you feel as if food is reentering your mouth. What you just experienced is a severe case of heartburn. Although the name suggests that it may be related to the heart, you have to remember that heartburn has nothing to do with the heart. And, when we lie down, there will be a much more prolonged contact between the esophagus and the acid, which can easily lead to the deterioration of the esophagus lining, which will cause a more serious complication as mentioned earlier. So, here are some of the ways on how you can prevent heartburn from happening during nighttime. The specialist may also conduct a diagnosis where they will test the strength of your LES muscle, which is basically a valve that separates the stomach acid from your esophagus. This test is called esophageal manometry. You may also be subjected to a procedure called the 24 hours pH monitoring. This measures the strength of your stomach acid and a thin tube will be passed through your nose and in to your esophagus. Because of this, the stomach produces more acid in order to digest these types of foods properly, which is primarily what you don t want to happen as it will increase the likelihood of experiencing heartburn. So, lifestyle modification is needed in order for you to prevent heartburn or at least lessen its frequency.