Someone who’s dehydrated stands at a much greater risk of suffering from kidney failure, as proven by the National Hydration Council report which claimed that most kidney stones are the result of chronic dehydration.
Dehydration causes a high density of minerals to accumulate in your urine, which can eventually formulate themselves into a crystal, which will then grow in your kidneys into a stone. It’s not that hard to avoid this, just make sure that you drink enough. It’s much easier to get dehydrated than to cause any actual damage from overhydration, so it’s always better to drink up just to be on the safe side.
Be Careful of Artificial Sweeteners
In a consumer culture where more than three-quarters of the American population is obese and more than two-thirds are overweight, it’s no wonder that “diet” and “zero sugar” versions of favorite drinks such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi began to outsell even the regular versions in certain places. There’s also a growing number of people who replace regular white and brown sugar with artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, saccharin, and tagatose. Although all these sugar-free alternatives contain nearly zero calories, they have been linked to some adverse health conditions.
It’s been generally estimated that as long as you avoid drinking more than one or two artificially-sweetened drinks per day you should be OK, but there’s still a huge problem with that assumption. Artificial sweeteners have only been around for a few years, so data on them has not been reliable, due to the health effects of various substances taking a lifetime before they can be fully analyzed. There are no official sentiments regarding the safety of using artificial sweeteners, so it would be best to stay away from them if possible, just to be on the safe side.
Avoid Excessive Sugar Consumption
High amounts of sugar often lead to energy imbalances, mood irregularities, lower cognitive performance, weight gain, poor sleep, and more negative effects. In addition, high amounts of sugar raise your blood sugar levels, which according to the American Diabetes Association, force the kidneys to filter too much blood and cause your kidneys to develop diseases over time.
Researchers from the University of Montreal found a direct link between sugar, diabetes, and kidney disease. The three create a feedback loop that only causes more damage to the body. Excess sugar often causes diabetes, and diabetes causes kidney disease. Where this gets really bad is that kidney disease can also cause diabetes, thus perpetuating the health issue and making it even worse. It’s important to get your blood glucose checked regularly to prevent diabetes and avoid eating an excessive amount of sugar. Up next: What about artificial sweeteners and alcohol? Learn how they affect your kidneys in the next entry.
Watch Out With Those Pain Killers
Pain relievers are only meant to be taken only when needed. Our reliance on pain relievers is not good for our health as it may incur a heavy debt on our kidneys as they decrease blood flow to the kidneys, and the more you take, the more severe this effect will be, resulting in poor kidney activity which in worse cases can kidney failure.
The New England Journal of Medicine found that heavy use of painkillers such as Advil and Tylenol resulted in over 5,000 cases of kidney failure in the United States annually. As a precaution, painkillers should never be taken never on an empty stomach.
Stand Up Whenever You Can, Especially If You Work a Desk Job
Sitting for more than six hours per day makes you 40% more likely to die within 15 years than someone who sits for less than three hours. If you’re working at a desk job, this is especially important for you to pay attention to, because the risks also affect your kidneys. A recent study done in PLoS One found that just an extra hour of non-sedentary activity reduces your chances of kidney failure by a great deal.
Researchers believe that one of the biggest reasons that sitting contributes to vastly higher rates of kidney disease is that prolonged sitting lowers your blood pressure while increasing your glucose and cholesterol levels. These are all directly correlated with higher rates of kidney failure, likely explaining the phenomena.