10 Common Habits that Damage Your Kidneys

The kidneys are one of the most important body organs, because they are responsible for the urination process in our organism by filtering the excess of water and body waste. Even though they are so important for our body, we don’t take proper care for them, which is testified by the fact that millions of people die of kidney disease every year. In order keep our kidneys healthy many of us must give up of their habits. This is a list of some habits you need to avoid for healthy kidneys:

1. Pain–killer abuse

A bad habit that many people have is taking pain-killers for low-grade pain, because most pain-killers can damage different organs, such as kidneys and have severe side effects. A recent research has shown that taking pain – killers pills for a longer period of time reduces blood flow and deteriorates kidney’s function.

2. Too much protein

Over-consumption of protein-rich foods and red meat can deteriorate the damaged kidneys condition. A protein-rich diet is essentially healthy unless you suffer from kidney damage and your doctor recommends a protein-restricted diet. The intake of too much protein through the food increases the metabolic load on our kidneys.

3. Smoking

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that smoking is bad for almost every organ of the body, including the kidneys. The connection between kidney disease and smoking has been shown in several studies.

4. Consuming too much sodium

Another job for our kidneys is metabolizing the sodium we consume. The majority of our sodium intake needs to be excreted, andthe salt we eat is the prime source of sodium, which means that when we eat excessive salt the kidneys are kept busy excreting sodium, causing long term stress on our kidneys.

5. Ignoring flu and colds

A habit that can cause kidney damage is ignoring the common flu and cold. Studies show that people who have a history of avoiding resting while sick,have kidney disease.

6. Consumption of too much caffeine 

 It is common that whenever we are thirsty we choose to drink other beverages like sodas and soft drinks rather than water. Many of these beverages contain caffeine. High blood pressure puts strain on the kidneys which can damage them, and caffeine can elevate blood pressure.

7. Too much alcohol consumption

When we drink alcohol we often ignore the proper quantity suitable for good health. Too much alcoholic intake is a habit that can severely damage your kidneys. Alcohol is full of toxins that stress our kidneys thus damaging them.

8. Sleeplessness

During the night when you sleep, the organs tissues are repairing themselves. Therefore, every time you don’t get good quality sleep, therenewal process is interrupted, resulting in damage to the kidneys and other organs.

9. Drinking inadequate water

The biggest contributor to damage that our kidneys bear everyday is not drinking enough water. The main job of our kidneys is to regulate erythrocyte balances and drain metabolic waste from the body. If the body is not properly hydrated, the renal blood flow decreases, resulting in accumulation of toxins in the blood.

10. Long–term full bladder

This is a habit that many of us have. Different complications in the urinary tract may arise, if we leave the bladder full of urine for an extended time: one example of such complications is Hypertrophy of detrusor muscle, which may lead to formation of diverticula. Another example which is caused by chronic back pressure on kidneys is Hydronephrosis (increase of urine pressure in kidneys), ultimately resulting in renal dysfunction and even the need for dialysis.

(Source: http://organichealth.co/10-common-habits-that-damage-your-kidneys/)