"I like spicy food, although sometimes it is not good for my stomach," said Li Na, the Chinese tennis player who reached the women's singles semifinals at this year's Australia Open.

Li was reported to have a stomachache because she ate a lot of spicy food after the game. 

According to Dr. Zhou Xianbin, head of the gastroenterology department at Taizhou Hospital in southeast China's Zhejiang Province, stomach acid increases after heavy exercise. Too much spicy food might stimulate the stomach's gastric mucosa layer, triggering stomach pain.  

Exercise activities that move against the direction of gravity, such as sit-ups and certain yoga poses, can also easily cause heartburn.

"After heavy exercise, it is better to drink water and have a bland diet rather than eat spicy food," Zhou said.

"It's normal and understandable for players like Li Na to feel nervous before important games, and a causal connection between anxiousness and stomach disease does exist virtually," Zhou said. "So maintaining a healthy lifestyle and spiritual pleasure will help resist stomach disease."

(Source: Health Times February 1, 2010)