A kidney is one of the most useful organs in the body. This organ is responsible for the excretion of harmful substances, excess water, and waste products from the body. It also takes an active role in returning glucose, vitamins, amino acids, and other useful substances into the bloodstream.
The kidney also regulates salt, the production of red blood cells, and blood pressure. It also takes part in the activation of vitamin D, which helps your body to activate the calcium needed for strong bones.
Keeping your keeping body working optimally is important in ensuring overall health. Your filter and expel excess water from your body properly when you keep your kidney healthy. Your body will also produce hormones to help your body to function properly if your kidney is healthy.
What can you do to improve kidney health?
Find out if you are at risk of kidney health
The first step to improving your kidney health is knowing whether your body is at risk of kidney health. The following are some of the kidney health risk factors you should be aware of:
- You have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and other cardiovascular diseases.
- You have a higher BMI or obesity
- Your family has a history of high blood pressure
- You are 60 years older
- You’ve been diagnosed with chronic UTI
Check and control your blood sugar
Your blood sugar level is more important for your kidney health. If you have high blood sugar or a condition that causes diabetes, you become more vulnerable to kidney problems. Your kidneys overwork when your body cells cannot use the glucose in your blood effectively.
Fortunately, you reduce the risk of damage to your kidney if you can control your blood sugar. You should go for a regular medical check-up if your family has a history of diabetes to check if you have issues with blood sugar. This way, you can improve your kidney function.
Watch your blood pressure
You are more likely to have kidney complications if you are diagnosed with high blood pressure. If your high blood pressure comes with high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease, it can cause a huge impact on your overall health.
You should strive to maintain your blood pressure at 120/80. Keeping your blood pressure above the recommended level can increase your risk of kidney damage. For those who are hypertensive, a change in diet can help to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of kidney complications.
You can also make some changes to your lifestyle and diet to lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of kidney problems.
Keep hydrated
How much fluids and water you consume every day is important in keeping you healthy overall. It is advisable to drink at least 9-13 cups or 1.5-2 liters of water a day. Avoid drinking excess water because this can result in overhydration. Your kidney overworks to get rid of excess water in your system if you are overhydrated.
Drink plenty of fluid and water before and after strenuous exercise like walking, running, and hitting the gym. When you plan your daily water consumption, you should consider factors like age, environment, health, and whether you’re pregnant.
If you were diagnosed with kidney stones, ensure you drink plenty of water to prevent re-infection. Make it a habit to drink water even when you’re not thirsty to keep your body hydrated.
Monitor your weight
How much you weigh matters a lot if you want to remain healthy. Keep watching your BMI If you want to reduce the risk of kidney problems. Being overweight also increases your risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
Eat a healthy diet
To reduce the risk of kidney damage, take a healthy diet that is low in processed meats, sodium, and other kidney-damaging foods.
You should focus more on eating fresh ingredients that are low-sodium and fat. Fishes, grains, and veggies are low in sodium and can improve your kidney functions.
Don’t smoke
Put your cigar away if you want to keep your kidney healthy. When you smoke, you damage your blood vessels, and this can result in low blood flow. For your kidneys to work properly there should be adequate blood flow throughout the body.
Identify all the risk factors of kidney disease like diabetes, smoking, and obesity, and then find out if you are more vulnerable or not.
Those who are 60 years older and have any cardiovascular disease are more vulnerable to kidney disease. You should get a kidney function test and establish if you’re at risk of kidney disease or not.
