But, if you have chronic heartburn, you may need to seek professional medical help as self-care at home may only provide temporary or partial relief. For mild or occasional symptoms of heartburn, a few lifestyle modifications will go a long way in helping you with your heartburn problem. To start, you may want to avoid large meals. You need to understand heartburn in order for you to treat it properly. Today, around 30 percent of the adult population in the country experiences occasional heartburn. Around 10 to 15 percent of the adult population experiences the condition every day. So, what are the symptoms of heartburn that you should watch out for? Occasional or mild cases of heartburn will let the lining in your esophagus to recover and no long term damage will be done. But, if you experience heartburn on a regular basis, you may need to take this more seriously as repeated heartburn attacks will prevent your esophagus lining from recovering and cause serious damage to it. Basically, heartburn is often associated with regurgitation of gastric acid or also known as acid reflux. This is why you feel a burning sensation in your chest and in your throat. This is also the reason why you taste something bitter right after the heartburn episode. So, should you be concerned if you experience heartburn? Basically, the sphincter acts as a valve that prevents stomach acid from reaching the esophagus. When it is relaxed or is weakened, stomach acid can get through the sphincter and eventually irritate it and cause heartburn. So, just what causes the sphincter to weaken or relax? There are certain foods that can weaken the sphincter. Basically, heartburn is a digestive disorder that is a result of living an unhealthy lifestyle. The foods we eat are primarily one of the causes of heartburn, especially today where the food available is not always healthy for our stomach and for our overall health. The key to managing and treating heartburn is to make some lifestyle changes.