Lively Women

It’s Hard to Sleep Well With Acid Reflux

by Kristen King on October 15th, 2007

Those of us familiar with that burning sensation that just won’t quit know how hard it is to sleep through an attack of acid reflux. And researchers have determined, unsurprisingly, I might add, that nighttime reflux can have a negative impact on sleep.

In a recent national survey, researchers assessed the prevalence of sleep impairment among people with [gastroesophageal reflux disease] GERD and people without GERD based on response to an Internet survey of a general population of U.S. adults. Using a validated GERD screening tool, 701 respondents were identified with GERD and the remaining were controls. Bonnie Dean, MPH, PhD, of Cerner LifeSciences, Ronnie Fass, MD of the University of Arizona and their research team found that sleep impairment was more common among people with GERD (41.9 percent) than those without GERD (19.4 percent). Researchers found that 49.5 percent of respondents with nighttime GERD reported sleeping poorly often or most of the time, compared to 36.7 percent of people with daytime GERD.*

Like I said, kind of a no-brainer. But the good news is that this may ultimately lead to effective treatment of nightime reflux, which means better sleep for sufferers everywhere.

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