The world has always been a stressful place. It might have been the problem of where the next meal was coming from when we lived in a cave and there was deep snow on the ground, but the pressure of circumstances remains the same. Ask those now out of work whether savings can keep paying the mortgage or rent to keep a roof over their heads. In many cases, the first real sign of this stress is heartburn. There’s that moment when you can almost feel the acid pumping out of the stomach, the burning pain starts, you feel nauseous. Experience tells you this is going to set in. This is going to be another bad night. Sleep will be disrupted. The world seems to be falling apart.

All this is, of course, related to the food we eat. When we’re young, it seems like we can eat anything in any quantity, and feel great the next day. This doesn’t change if we wash all the food down with endless coffee or pints of beer. We never give our diet a second thought until the pain starts. So what’s going on? Why can’t we keep on eating whatever we want?

The answer is age combined with all the stress of everyday life. When we get older, the body stops works as effectively. One of the first signs is a slowdown in the volume of digestive enzymes produced in the stomach. This would not be a serious problem if we were eating only moderate amounts of food. But we eat too much. Whether at home or outside, the portions on our plates are excessive. It’s a fact that, until about ten years ago, restaurants used ten-inch plates. Now they use twelve-inch plates and still pile up the food. Worse, these portions tend to be highly processed fast food, mostly glued together using corn-based stabilizers. This means most of our food has a high fat content and is full of carbohydrates. Without the full range of enzymes to break down all this fat and carbohydrates, the stomach reacts to the food moving through the system more slowly by producing more acid. As the excess builds up, it’s easier for it to escape from the stomach and cause the pain we call heartburn.

So here’s the question for you. If you find heartburn is becoming a regular problem, are you prepared to change your diet? Equally important, are you prepared to make lifestyle changes that might reduce stress? If the answer to both these questions is “no”, starting a routine of relying on Nexium will give you relief. That’s what a proton pump inhibitor does. But it’s not the ideal long-term solution. In the perfect world, you would change your diet, eat at more regular times of the day, and learn relaxation techniques. Nexium would take the pressure off while you reorganize your life. Once you have made all the adjustments, you should be able to live comfortably without having to rely on a drug. Yes, it will involve effort. Yes, you may have a slightly higher bill for fresh food. But it’s worth it to get your body back into shape.