What’s behind holiday heartburn?

There are several reasons why heartburn may occur more often or seem more severe on holiday and in summer generally² – one of the most obvious being what we eat and drink and the amount we consume.

Of course, we want to make the most of our time away and enjoy all the getaway fare on offer so it can be related to a tendency to over-indulge and eat the things we’d normally limit when at home.

It can be hard to resist all the holiday treats on offer and they’re often the foods that cause heartburn or are linked to making it worse such as fatty and spicy foods.¹

Think of all those tempting dining out opportunities and fried or rich, creamy foods that are always found on the holiday menu – ice creams, chips, all you can eat buffets, pastries, pasties not to mention a host of local specialities to try.

We’re also likely to partake in a BBQ or two which again usually involves fatty food such as burgers – even the humble a tomato¹, a BBQ salad staple, is another known trigger food can be found in BBQ sauce and obviously ketchup.

Alcohol is another common cause of heartburn and in variably it goes hand in hand with holidays.

Cocktails by the pool, wine, fizz, and beer on tap in the evenings – it’s a heady mix of opportunities for heartburn to strike.

Alongside food and drink, your holiday heartburn could be linked to anxiety around a change in routine⁴ or the stress of preparation.

It may even be due to sitting down for longer after eating and you may find yourself suffering from it while on a lengthy flight to your holiday destination.⁴

How to relieve heartburn on holiday

For regular sufferers when it comes to food and drink it’s best to keep those triggers to a minimum or avoid them altogether if you can.

There are often tasty alternatives to rich and fatty food.

For example, lean, grilled meat and low-fat salad dressings – for more alternatives check out our Diet and heartburn blog.

Eating smaller more frequent meals can also help as overeating can cause or make heartburn worse.¹

Try to avoid eating within three to four hours of going to bed and if you do find heartburn interrupts your sleep, raise the head end of your bed 10-20cm so your chest is above waist level. This helps to stop acid from travelling up towards the throat.

Alcohol is thought to make your stomach produce more acid and can relax the muscular ring which joins the stomach to the oesophagus to stop the acid leaking through.⁵

While it may be hard to resist on holiday, if alcohol is one of your heartburn triggers it’s best to keep it to a minimum or cut it out completely.