If you're experiencing heartburn from a hiatal hernia, put less pressure on your stomach. To do this, eat smaller portions of food in each sitting. You should also eat slowly so that your stomach digests food easier and faster. This can also reduce pressure on the stomach sphincter (LES), a muscle that is already weakened.  Try to avoid eating 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. This will prevent food from putting pressure on your stomach muscles as you try to fall asleep. You may also want to change your diet to reduce excess stomach acid. Avoid high fat foods, chocolate, peppermint, alcohol, onions, tomatoes, and citrus. Wear clothing that doesn’t constrict your stomach or abdomen. Avoid wearing tight clothing or belts. Instead, choose tops that are loose around your waist. If you do wear a belt, adjust it so that it doesn't tightly hug your waist. When you constrict your stomach or abdomen, you can cause recurrent hernias and make hyperacidity worse. The acid in your stomach can be forced back into your esophagus. If you're overweight, you're putting extra pressure on your stomach and abdominal muscles. This extra pressure can increase your risk for developing another hernia. It can also make acid in your stomach back up into your esophagus. This can cause reflux and hyperacidity. Try to lose weight slowly. Aim to lose no more than a pound or two a week. Talk to your doctor about adjusting your diet and exercise plan. Since you shouldn't lift heavy things or strain, try to do exercises that strengthen and support your muscles. Lay flat on your back and try one of the following stretches:  Bring your knees up so that your legs are slightly bent. Place a pillow in between your legs and use your thigh muscles to squeeze the pillow. Relax your muscles and repeat this stretch ten times. Keep your hands at your sides and lift your knees off the ground and into the air. Using both legs, do a pedaling motion in the air. Keep doing this until you feel muscle strain in your abdomen. Bring your knees up so that your legs are slightly bent. Place your hands on the back of your head and bend your torso up by about 30 degrees. Your torso should be closer to your knees. Hold this position and carefully recline. You can repeat this 15 times. If you're experiencing reflux, try to stop smoking. Smoking can increase your stomach acid, making the reflux worse. And, if you're planning on getting surgery to treat your hernia, your doctor will most likely advise you to quit smoking in the months leading up to the surgery. Smoking will make it harder for your body to heal after the surgery and it can raise your blood pressure during the surgery. Smoking also increases your risk for developing recurrent hernias and infection from surgery.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary -- Eat smaller meals. Reduce pressure on your abdomen. Lose weight. Exercise key muscles. Stop smoking.


If you're just starting out, put it on the lowest setting. Move the pulley down to the lowest rung. If you know the weight you want, move the pulley to that level instead. You don't want to start with something too heavy because you could injure yourself. You need to work up to more weight. Be especially careful if you've had a shoulder or lower back injury in the past. It should have a low cable just for exercises like seated cable rows. If you can't sit on the floor due to mobility issues, sit on a bench in front of a cable machine that has a cable at that level, which will provide a similar style exercise. You need to brace your feet while pulling the cable, so place them on the pads in front of you. Some machines may just have a base where you can brace your heels instead.  You only need to bend your knees slightly, but they shouldn't be flat on the floor. You need to brace your feet on the pads while you're pulling, so if the machine doesn't have them, you have to improvise. The best option is to use a step (the kind used for stepping exercises). Prop your feet on the side of the step to brace your feet while rowing. Lean over to grab the handle. Pull back to sit up straight. Grip the handles like you're holding onto mugs, as it's typically a v-grip.  If it's a straight bar, you can grab it with either an overhanded or underhanded grip. Using an underhanded grip will make it easier on your shoulders. You will need to extend your arms to sit up straight. Throughout the exercise, make sure your back is straight. Don't lean over. Also, press your chest out, drawing your shoulder blades together, as that helps you work your upper and middle back.  Even though you're keeping your back straight and your torso still, you can flex your hips a little if that helps you do the exercise. However, don't bend at your hips at any point. Keep your core muscles engaged as you do the exercise so that your upper body stays steady. As you do, push your elbows back. They should stay at your sides but move toward your back. Bring the cable attachment as far as you are able or as far as it will go, ending at your torso if you can. Exhale as you pull the cable toward you. Once you pull all the way back, stay in that position for a few seconds. As you do, make sure your shoulder blades are pushed together by squeezing them together when you pause. Work against the tension; don't just allow the cable to yank your arms back forward. If you don't work against it, you're losing out on half your workout.  Inhale as you release the cable back to the starting position. If you hear the weights clank down on the cable machine, you likely moved back too quickly. It's most important to concentrate on doing the exercise correctly. As a beginner, start with 8-12 reps and then rest. You can try 2-3 sets at this many reps. Later, you can work up to more reps and sets.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary -- Set the weight to the appropriate marker. Sit on the floor in front of the cable machine. Bend your knees and position your feet on the pads. Grab the handle and then straighten out your back. Push your shoulders together and keep your back straight. Pull the cable back toward your torso. Hold the position for a few seconds. Extend your arms slowly back to the start position. Repeat until you start to feel the burn.


Many people advocate a chamomile compress as a way to help soothe a piercing and potentially prevent scarring. You will need a bag of chamomile tea.  Boil some water and immerse the tea bag in the water. After several minutes, remove the tea bag. Let the tea bag cool for a few minutes. Then, apply the tea bag to your piercing, in the area where you feel pain. If you got your lip pierced, eating and drinking something cool can help. Try ice cream, cold water, cold beverages, popsicles, frozen yogurt, and other cold items to ease the pain. You can also eat small pieces of ice to get relief from pain with lip or tongue piercings. There may be certain foods that irritate your skin. If anything you're eating seems to aggravate the piercing, try something else. While putting ice or an ice pack on your piercing may seem like a good idea, you could end up accidentally irritating the piercing by putting pressure on it. If you want to cool the area, stick to something gentler, like a cool chamomile tea compress. Aside from oral piercings, most piercings do not swell very much if they’re done correctly. You shouldn’t have any need to use ice to reduce swelling from a non-oral piercing.
++++++++++
One-sentence summary --
Try a chamomile tea compress. Try cold food and drinks for lip piercings. Avoid icing non-oral piercings.