If you experience moderate to severe heartburn, you may want to keep these heartburn management tips in mind. Doing so will enable you to lessen the frequency of heartburn and also provide you with partial or temporary relief. The first is to eat more meals a day but in smaller servings rather than having 3 large meals a day. In rare and extreme cases, chronic heartburn may also be caused by esophageal cancer or cancer of the esophagus. First of all, heartburn occurs when partially digested food mixed with stomach acid or gastric juice escapes the stomach and comes in to contact with the esophagus. This causes pain and a burning sensation behind the breastbone in the chest, which is what we all know as heartburn. Besides, most people only experiences heartburn once or twice every month and it s really nothing serious. However, there are cases where heartburn can severely affect your life. Around 10 percent of the adult population experiences a chronic kind of heartburn. Chronic heartburn happens when people start experiencing the condition every single day. This can also cause you to experience persistent heartburn or pyrosis and if it is already affecting your quality of life, surgical intervention may be needed to treat the problem. Basically Hiatal Hernia occurs when the stomach protrudes upwards through the hiatus, which is a space in the diaphragm. When stomach acid comes in to contact with our esophagus, it will cause irritation and we will feel that burning sensation that starts in our diaphragm all the way to our chest, which is basically what we all know as heartburn. It s an unpleasant feeling that you have to learn how to prevent in order for you to continue living a normal life and also keep your body healthy. This is the valve that keeps the stomach acid inside the stomach and prevents the acid from coming in contact with the esophagus. A weakened LES is one of the most common symptoms of GERD or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. You also have to remember that there are certain foods that weaken or relax the LES.