According to the National Kidney Foundation, kidney disease kills more than 90,000 Americans annually. That’s more than breast cancer or prostrate cancer. If we want to live long, healthy lives, we need to take care of our kidneys. But our daily habits might be preventing us from doing that.
It’s not too late to unlearn these habits. Simple changes to your diet, supplements, and sleep will prevent kidney disease in the future. New habits may also prevent other illnesses such as diabetes. For the sake of your kidneys, change these everyday habits.
Stay tuned to see how your bathroom habits could lead to kidney disease.
Use Herbs Instead Of Salt
Eating excessive amounts of salt upsets the balance in your blood, which makes your kidneys struggle to remove water. According to 2018 research in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension, this could lead to kidney disease. Unfortunately, many Western diets tend to overindulge in salt.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that people limit their salt intake to one teaspoon per day, or 2,300 mg. That’s about one-third less than most people consume. Watch out for high sodium in pre-cooked and processed foods, as this is where kidney damage can sneak up on you.
Don’t Take Too Many Pain Relievers
According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, heavy use of pain relievers like Tylenol results in 5,000 cases of kidney failure in the U.S. each year. But how much is too much? Researchers noted that the most dangerous time to take painkillers is after fasting. If you take pain relievers with food occasionally for a headache, you should be fine.
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According to Stanford medical professor Dr. Grant Lipman, pain relievers decrease the blood flow to your kidneys. Over time, this could cause your kidneys some serious strain. Dr. Lipman says that one in five marathon runners will develop the risk of kidney damage.
