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. If you suffer from heartburn on a regular basis, you may need to treat it in order to prevent heartburn attacks or at least lessen its frequency. Although mild heartburn is more of a nuisance than a real condition, chronic or severe heartburn can be something much more serious. Chronic heartburn will not only prevent you from living a normal life, but it can also be very dangerous to your overall health. First of all, you have to understand that heartburn is a digestive condition. Despite its name and what you will feel during an episode of heartburn, it is in no way related to the heart. Heartburn happens when stomach acid comes in to contact with our esophagus. You have to remember that stomach acid can reflux or travel back up inside our body. The LES acts as a valve that lets food in to the stomach and keeps stomach acid out. When the LES doesn t function properly, it will let stomach acid flow freely in to the esophagus when you experience acid reflux. Secondly, you have to drink more water. Stop drinking coffee and avoid drinking carbonated drinks, such as sodas. The best thing that you can do is to avoid eating large meals. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, try to eat 6 smaller meals daily. 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. And, as you may already know, if the LES is weakened, it may not function properly and will let the stomach acid flow in to the esophagus, which will ultimately cause heartburn. Stress is another known cause of heartburn. It has been found that stress can increase the acid production in the stomach and slows down the emptying of the stomach, causing heartburn.