Left or right–which side should you sleep on to avoid heartburn pain?

Sleep on an incline.

That’s standard advice to patients with chronic heartburn or acid reflux. And it makes good sense. That burning sensation is irritation of the esophagus by stomach acids that bubble up past the esophageal sphincter.

Lying on an incline helps keep the acids down where they belong.

But once you’ve set up your bedding on an incline, then what?

With so many people the world over going to bed with heartburn, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that several studies have addressed this basic sleep question: Should you sleep on the left side or right side? Or does it even matter?

The surprising results: It matters.

Several different studies have come to the same conclusion: Sleeping on your right side irritates heartburn/reflux pain, while sleeping on your left relieves the pain.

We still don’t quite know why this matters. We just know it does.

But “Why?” is for researchers. We just want results. And it appears that many people get at least some relief by sleeping on their left.

Source:
“The Claim: Lying on Your Left Side Eases Heartburn” Anahad O’Connor, New York Times, 10/25/10, nytimes.com