We are in the middle of March madness now, and we haven’t talked about Kidney health yet! As well as being Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, it is also Kidney Month! Your kidneys do so much for you! But do you really know what they do and how to take care of them?
Kidneys are like a filter system for your body; their job is to filter your blood. They filter out waste while controlling a fluid balance throughout your body as well as electrolytes. All of your blood goes through your kidneys more than one time a day!
Let’s dive into it a little more.
When your blood first enters your kidneys, waste is removed and salt, water and minerals are adjusted according to what your body needs. Then, your blood goes back into your body, and the waste gets turned into urine.
What leads to kidney failure is if the blood stops flowing into them.
Good news is there are plenty of ways to keep your kidneys healthy! Below are 10 things you can be doing to take better care of your kidneys.
- Checkups – Make sure you are visiting your doctor regularly. Don’t skip on those biyearly checkups!
- Smoking – Like we said in our previous blog, smoking has detrimental affects on nearly every organ in your body.
- Blood Pressure – High blood pressure is never a good thing, but it can cause extra stress to your kidneys.
- Diabetes – High blood sugar can make the kidneys work extra hard, causing problems over time.
- Medicine – Be careful of taking over-the-counter pain killers for long periods of time; they are very harsh to your kidneys.
- Diet – Eating healthy foods affects your body positively from when it enters to when it leaves.
- Exercise – Same with exercising regularly; it does so much good to your body and your kidneys.
- Water – Stay hydrated! Check your pee to see if you need more water in your system.
- Alcohol – Women should no more than 1 drink a day while men should only have two.
- Salt – Watch your sodium intake! Keep it low; no more than 2,300 milligrams a day.