Several home remedies can help relieve acid reflux, and the most effective ones work by either neutralizing stomach acid, speeding up digestion, or keeping acid where it belongs. The best starting point depends on whether you’re dealing with occasional flare-ups or frequent nighttime symptoms. Here’s what actually works, what to be careful with, and what to skip.
Baking Soda for Quick Relief
Sodium bicarbonate, ordinary baking soda, is one of the fastest-acting home remedies for acid reflux. It neutralizes stomach acid on contact. Dissolve half a level teaspoon in four ounces of water, make sure it’s fully dissolved, and drink it. You can repeat this every two hours if needed, but don’t exceed six half-teaspoon doses in 24 hours. If you’re over 60, the limit drops to three doses per day.
This is a short-term fix, not a daily habit. Baking soda is high in sodium, so people with high blood pressure, kidney disease, or heart failure should avoid it. In advanced kidney disease, sodium bicarbonate can worsen fluid retention and raise blood pressure further. Even if you’re otherwise healthy, relying on baking soda regularly signals that something deeper needs attention.
Ginger Tea to Speed Digestion
Ginger helps with reflux in a way most people wouldn’t guess: it makes your stomach empty faster. In a controlled study, ginger cut the time it took for the stomach to move food along from about 27 minutes to 13 minutes, nearly cutting it in half. It also increased the contractions that push food downward. A stomach that empties efficiently is less likely to send its contents back up into the esophagus.
Fresh ginger tea is the simplest way to use this. Slice about an inch of fresh ginger root, steep it in hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, and drink it 20 to 30 minutes before a meal. Ginger capsules and ginger chews are also options, though fresh tea lets you control the strength. Avoid ginger ale, which is mostly sugar and carbonation with minimal actual ginger.
Chamomile and Slippery Elm for Soothing
If your throat or chest feels raw from repeated acid exposure, chamomile tea and slippery elm work differently from acid neutralizers. They coat and calm irritated tissue rather than changing acid levels.
Chamomile contains volatile oils and compounds that reduce inflammation in the digestive tract lining. It also contains mucilage, a gel-like substance that helps protect the mucosa from further irritation. A cup of chamomile tea between meals or before bed can take the edge off that burning sensation. Because it’s caffeine-free, it won’t trigger more acid production the way coffee or regular tea might.
Slippery elm works on a similar principle but more aggressively. Its inner bark is rich in mucilage that absorbs water and forms a thick, protective gel over the esophageal and stomach lining, shielding it from acid. You can find it as a powder (mixed into warm water) or as lozenges. One practical note: because slippery elm coats the digestive tract, it may slow the absorption of medications. Take it at least two hours apart from any prescription drugs.
Chewing Gum After Meals
This one sounds too simple to work, but chewing gum after eating is surprisingly effective. It stimulates saliva production, and saliva is mildly alkaline. Each swallow washes acid back down from the esophagus and dilutes whatever is sitting in the stomach. In studies, chewing gum raised saliva pH to about 7.4 (neutral is 7.0), and bicarbonate-containing gum pushed it even higher, to around 8.0.
Sugar-free gum is the better choice to avoid feeding bacteria in your mouth. Chew for 20 to 30 minutes after a meal, particularly after dinner. Mint-flavored gum works fine for most people, though some find that strong mint relaxes the valve at the top of the stomach and makes reflux worse. If that’s you, switch to a fruit or cinnamon flavor.
Sleep Position Makes a Big Difference
Nighttime reflux is often the most disruptive, and how you sleep matters more than most people realize. Two changes make the biggest impact: sleeping on your left side and elevating your upper body.
When you lie on your right side, your esophagus sits below the opening to your stomach, essentially letting acid pool at the entrance. Flip to your left side, and the anatomy reverses. Your esophagus is now positioned above the stomach, so gravity works in your favor and acid stays put. A systematic review and meta-analysis confirmed that left-side sleeping consistently improved reflux symptoms across multiple studies.
Elevating the head of your bed by six to eight inches also helps. A wedge pillow is the easiest option, though you can also place risers under the legs at the head of the bed. Stacking regular pillows usually doesn’t work well because they bend you at the waist instead of creating a gradual incline, which can actually increase abdominal pressure.
Eat Earlier in the Evening
The gap between your last meal and bedtime is one of the strongest predictors of nighttime reflux. People who eat less than three hours before lying down are over seven times more likely to experience reflux symptoms compared to those who wait four hours or more. That’s a massive difference from a single habit change.
If dinner at 6 p.m. isn’t realistic for your schedule, even pushing your meal 30 to 60 minutes earlier than usual helps. Eating smaller portions at dinner and saving heavier meals for earlier in the day is another practical adjustment. Fatty and fried foods slow stomach emptying, so they’re the worst offenders when eaten late.
Why Apple Cider Vinegar Is Risky
Apple cider vinegar is one of the most popular home remedy recommendations online, but the evidence for it is essentially nonexistent, and the risks are real. Apple cider vinegar has a pH of about 3.7, making it strongly acidic. In lab testing, apple cider and plain vinegar caused the most mineral loss from tooth enamel out of nine beverages tested, outperforming even cola.
The theory behind it (that reflux is caused by too little stomach acid) has no clinical support for the vast majority of reflux sufferers. Drinking something highly acidic when your esophagus is already irritated by acid is more likely to make things worse. If you’ve been using it and feel it helps, at minimum dilute it heavily, drink it through a straw to protect your teeth, and rinse your mouth with plain water afterward.
Signs That Home Remedies Aren’t Enough
Home remedies work well for occasional reflux, but certain symptoms indicate something more serious. Difficulty swallowing, unintentional weight loss, vomiting, signs of bleeding in the digestive tract (black stools or vomiting blood), and unexplained anemia are all red flags that the American College of Gastroenterology identifies as requiring prompt evaluation, typically with an endoscopy. Reflux that happens more than twice a week for several weeks also warrants a conversation with a healthcare provider, because chronic acid exposure can damage the esophageal lining over time in ways you won’t feel until the damage is significant.