Sleep positional therapy using a smartwatch app that vibrates when patients lie in right lateral decubitus position significantly reduced nighttime gastroesophageal reflux symptoms and increased the number of reflux-free nights.
Sleep positional therapy using a smartwatch app significantly reduced nighttime gastroesophageal reflux symptoms as measured by the N-GSSIQ questionnaire.
Patients slept significantly less in right lateral decubitus position and significantly more in left lateral decubitus position after sleep positional therapy.
Patients reported significantly more reflux-free nights after sleep positional therapy.
Patients reported significantly fewer nights with poor sleep quality after sleep positional therapy.
The study enrolled patients with nighttime gastroesophageal reflux symptoms and used a within-subject design measuring symptoms and sleep position at baseline, during, and after a two-week treatment period.
This research suggests that a simple smartwatch app designed to discourage sleeping on the right side can meaningfully reduce nighttime heartburn and acid reflux symptoms. The study followed 18 patients who experienced nighttime reflux symptoms and had them use the app for two weeks. The app detected when a person rolled onto their right side during sleep and delivered a vibration prompt to encourage them to shift position. After the two-week period, patients spent far less time sleeping on their right side (dropping from about 32% to 8% of the night) and much more time on their left side (increasing from 40% to 61% of the night). The practical benefits were notable: patients experienced nearly twice as many reflux-free nights (from about 5 to over 10 per measurement period) and had about two-thirds fewer nights with poor sleep quality (dropping from 6 to 2 nights). Overall symptom severity, measured by a validated questionnaire, dropped significantly. This research suggests that body position during sleep plays an important role in nighttime reflux, likely because lying on the left side helps keep stomach acid away from the esophagus due to the anatomy of the stomach. This approach is significant because it offers a non-medication, behavioral intervention for a condition that affects sleep quality and daytime functioning for many people. The use of a consumer smartwatch makes this a potentially accessible and low-cost option. However, the study was small (18 patients) and lacked a control group, so larger studies would be needed to confirm these findings and understand how long the benefits last.
Wessels E, Masclee G, Bredenoord A. (2026). Improvement of nighttime gastroesophageal reflux symptoms with sleep positional therapy using a smartwatch app.. Diseases of the esophagus : official journal of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus. https://doi.org/10.1093/dote/doag011