To prevent heartburn (burning feeling in chest/throat) at night, try sleeping on your left side. Sleeping on your right side can aggravate heartburn.

The best way to avoid nighttime heartburn is to sleep on your left side, so says a study conducted by the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Sleeping on your right side may increase your heartburn symptoms. The reason is not entirely clear. According to one hypothesis, sleeping on your right side relaxes the muscle that keeps gastric acids in your stomach. Another hypothesis says that sleeping on your left side keeps the junction between stomach and esophagus (food pipe) above the level of gastric acid. Sleeping on your back can also allow acid to slip back into your esophagus more often. Sleeping with your head elevated can prevent the backflow of gastric fluids.