Without a doubt, the kidneys are one of the most vital organs in your body. In fact, life and death depend on them in many severe cases. They produce white blood cells, detoxify internal organs through urine, regulate blood pressure, and eliminate excess water retention in the body. The kidneys also control the essential minerals in your blood as well. That’s why it is sacrosanct that you keep your kidneys healthy and functioning properly by following healthy dietary habits and a wholesome lifestyle. However, there are certain kidney-damaging habits that you tend to make in your everyday life.
Here are 10 such habits that you should stop doing immediately, and avoid at all costs to protect your kidneys’ health and ensure that they function optimally.
1. Not drinking enough water
Drinking water and remaining hydrated keeps your kidneys fit as a fiddle. Staying hydrated helps kidneys produce enough urine to remove toxins and excess sodium from our systems. If these aren’t flushed out properly, and on a regular basis, they end up becoming the prime reason for kidney stones.
It has been recommended to drink around 1.5 to 2 liters of water daily. But, keep in mind soda or cold drinks are not included in this estimate. It’s only water that will do the trick. So, if your pee is light yellow in color, you can rest assured that you are properly hydrated.
2. Holding your pee
If you have to go to the bathroom, you should go immediately and empty your bladder. Holding up urine for a long time causes kidney problems. If urine stays longer in your system, it becomes a playground for harmful bacterial growth that can multiply at an alarming rate. Such kidney-damaging habits will eventually lead to kidney infections and urinary incontinence.
3. Consuming too much salt and sugar
Your kidneys metabolize nearly 95% of the sodium intake of your body. Therefore, eating too much salty foods will only make your kidneys work overtime to process it. This can lead to loss of kidney efficiency, thereby causing water retention in your body, which increases blood pressure.
Besides salt, excess sugar consumption also leads to high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. These triads of conditions lead to kidney failure. To avoid this, ensure that you don’t exceed the recommended salt intake, which is 3.75 grams and sugar intake, which is 25- 38 grams per day. Exclude all sorts of processed and packaged food items with high sugar and sodium content.
4. Overtraining
Too much training and workout can also be harmful. For example, rhabdomyolysis is a medical condition that develops if you over-strain your body. In this condition, the muscles get injured, and the dead muscle fibers flow right into your bloodstream. These kinds of kidney-damaging habits can lead to kidney failure. So, if you notice dark-colored urine after an extra workout, then it’s time to take it slow and perhaps, visit a doctor.
5. Chronic sitting
Having a sedentary lifestyle, whether at home or work, doesn’t change the fact that sitting in one position for a long time without any physical movement can increase the risk of kidney disease by 30%.
Regular physical activities like running, jogging, or even brisk walking improves blood pressure and glucose metabolism, which keeps the kidneys active and healthy. If you spend 8 hours sitting at your office, then try to be more active at home. Walk around the block and hit the gym at least two times a week.
6. Eating a lot of meat
Consuming a lot of red meat and animal protein creates an acid in your blood called acidosis. This is a serious condition in which your kidneys cannot maintain their normal Ph balance. Slowly this problem turns into serious digestive issues and chronic kidney problems.
Don’t exceed the daily recommended intake of protein which is 1-1.6 grams per kg of your body weight. You can even switch to more vegetarian options and fruits and nuts. In addition, you can include different sources of protein in your diet like cottage cheese, tofu, eggs and fish.
7. Missing out on sleep
A good night’s sleep also does have a significant impact on the health of the kidneys. The regular sleep/wake cycle regulates and coordinates kidney functions. Moreover, when we sleep, and our body is at rest, the kidney tissues are repaired and renewed. However, suppose you are an insomniac or have irregular sleep patterns. In that case, this repair and renewal process of the kidney tissues is hindered and increases the risk of kidney damage.
Improper sleep causes a medical condition called atherosclerosis which means hardening and clogging of arteries. This condition causes high blood pressure and kidney failure over time.
8. Ignoring common infections
Our body makes antibodies to fight when we develop common illnesses like coughs, colds, sniffles, flu, or tonsillitis. These disease-causing molecules usually settle themselves on the filtering parts of the kidneys and cause inflammations. Choosing to ignore them can cause kidney infections. It would be best to treat bacterial infections as soon as possible with antibiotics, rest and sleep to allow your body to repair and fight the bacterial invasion.
9. Drinking diet soda
According to medical studies, there is a direct link between drinking diet soda and kidney problems. A study proved that women who drank two or more sodas a day witnessed a significant decline in kidney efficiency. Here artificially sweetened drinks proved to be more harmful than sugar-sweetened drinks. So it would be wise to watch what you drink. Soda drinking can even turn into one of your kidney-damaging habits.
10. Over-dosage of painkillers
Regular or overuse drugs like ibuprofen or aspirin can damage kidneys or even lead to complete kidney failure. Although moderate usage of the same drugs is safe, it should always be consumed as per the prescribed dosage. Drug addiction can be one of the most fatal kidney-damaging habits, that can also lead you to develop mental conditions like anxiety disorder.
Over-the-counter analgesics decrease the blood flow to the kidneys and worsen the situation if you already have kidney problems. So even if you are suffering from pain, try to practice some self-restraint and take the medications in moderation as per the doctor’s prescription, but don’t make the mistake of self-medicating.
