Having food in your stomach slows gastric emptying and reduces the absorption of alcohol. Alcohol is absorbed through the stomach lining. The gist being that if you weigh notably less than your friend, the concentration of alcohol in your blood will be higher even if you drink exactly the same amount. The more a person weighs, the more space through which alcohol can diffuse in the body.
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Lower body water volume, hormonal factors, and lower levels of a liver enzyme that breaks down alcohol are a few reasons. For several physiological reasons, females metabolize alcohol differently than males and will feel the effects more, even if they’re the same size. Slowed circulation and lower muscle mass as you age affect how alcohol is distributed, metabolized, and eliminated. The factors that can affect metabolism rate include: As a result, you’ll have a higher concentration of alcohol in your blood (more on this in a minute). She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.Obviously, the more drinks you consume, the longer it’ll take your body to process the alcohol. Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter.
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His areas of expertise include reflux disease, Barrett’s esophagus, capsule endoscopy, chronic liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
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Gingold attributes his success to the extra time he spends with his patients. Napping in a bed or on a sofa can easily bring on acid reflux for those whose esophageal sphincter is weak and lets acid spurt up the esophagus. See if this doesn’t help prevent that slump. If you suffer from the so-called mid-afternoon slump, take a look at what you usually eat for lunch.Ĭut back on the refined carbohydrates and eat healthier foods. Instead, take a walk (a better recharger than napping) or at least remain upright in a seated position doing something that won’t trigger drowsiness. If you have a habit of napping after meals – either immediately or a few hours later - stop. Then see what kind of adjustments you can make. Take a look at your post-dinner activities, whatever it is that you usually do in the four hours following your last meal of the day. Do you exercise in the evening? For some people, a hard workout can trigger acid reflux, especially if it involves impact like running and jumping.Or is this the time that you review household finances or continue the work that you brought home from the office?.Is this when arguments with your teens usually occur?.In the hours after dinner, do you engage in any activities that are stressful? What goes on in the hours after dinner that might be triggering GERD?Īnxiety and stress are notorious for bringing on the symptoms of acid reflux. If the problem still occurs even before you go to bed, and you’ve even eliminated GERD triggers like caffeine, alcohol and chocolate in the evening, then the issue is probably not being caused by food. These come in an assortment of designs and angles, and elevate the torso upwards so that gravity can oppose reflux and keep the acidic contents in your stomach where they belong. If it happens only after you go to bed, there is a simple solution that’s proven to be very effective: a wedge pillow. This might help take the edge off of the GERD issues in the hours to come.īut what if you don’t overeat, and this issue keeps recurring? Should you eat less for your evening meal? This is practical if you normally eat more than you should, if you stuff yourself, eating beyond the point of satiation. This may be why the reflux is more severe four hours after eating.” Nighttime Acid Reflux This is often several hours after we eat. “And we are lying down, so the acid tends to come back up into the esophagus. “When we are sleeping, however, we produce less saliva, so there is less of a way to neutralize the acid, motility slow-down, so we don’t clear the acid as well. “When we eat, gravity from sitting up helps to keep much of the acid in your stomach. “GERD can often be worse four hours after we eat because depending on what meal it is, a person may be sleeping or lying down which makes reflux worse,” says Alan Gingold, DO, a board certified gastroenterologist with the Digestive Health Center of NJ. When food incites acid reflux to occur, this doesn’t always happen immediately after eating. This is really happening the reflux disease is worse. It’s that time again: About four hours after you’ve eaten, your GERD is really acting up.