According to The National Kidney Foundation (yup, it actually exists), doing some form of daily exercise helps lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and enhance muscle function.
According to a 2019 study, people with kidney disease who worked out for just 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise (that’s an average of 30 minutes per day for five days) have seen a substantial improvement in their health.
Watch Your Saturated Fat Consumption
There are essentially two kinds of cholesterol, a good one and a bad one. According to the National Kidney Foundation, you should mostly be aware of the bad kind called LDL cholesterol. This type of cholesterol not only clogs arteries but also harms your kidneys.
Despite being quite unhealthy, you can enjoy butter occasionally and in small amounts, but should absolutely avoid it in large doses. By replacing butter with margarine, you get a similar flavor with almost no trans fat or “hydrogenated” fats, which both cause a dramatic rise in your LDL cholesterol level.
Lack of Sleep Is Correlated With Kidney Failure
The average adult today is chronically underslept and often lacks one or even two hours of sleep on average than the recommended amount of seven to eight hours daily. These poor sleep habits contribute to a 19% increase in kidney failure, according to a 2016 study by the University of Chicago which found a link between sleeping 6.5 hours per night and the odds of kidney failure.
The main reason for this is presumably that your kidneys keep working when you’re awake, and the lack of sleep causes them to overstrain themselves without getting enough rest. Another possible cause is that we often tend to make the worst dietary decisions towards the end of the day when we’re tired and lack energy. The more you’ve exercised willpower during the day, the less you’ll have at the end of it to avoid making bad decisions.
How a Healthy Social Life Can Improve Your Health
Most people know that we human beings are social creatures. We like to hang out with other people, talk to them, share with them, and more. Even introverts who pride themselves on their ability to thrive in solitude still need the occasional conversion, even if it's a virtual one. What scientists found about the subject of sociability is actually quite shocking, and you'll be running to tell your friends about it right after we tell you!
Having a good social life is officially linked to healthier kidneys unless you spend that time binge drinking with your friends. If you're a responsible and moderate drinker, you now have a great reason to spend some quality time with your friends this weekend!
Don't Hold You Pee
As we mentioned before your kidneys filter out waste products and extra fluids, the by-products then go into your urine and get disposed of when you pee. This helps to avoid building up excess and waste in your body. When you hold your pee in for long periods of time, ignoring nature’s call is actually one of the biggest factors that cause kidney problems.
The more time your urine stays inside, the more bacteria begin to manifest in it. When these bacteria reach a certain critical mass and begin to reach your kidneys, all sorts of trouble begin to unfold. This is actually one of the most productive things you can do for your kidneys, and it's also one of the easiest since it’s not hard to find the motivation to pee when the need arises. Coming up: how cigarettes and processed foods are ruining your kidney health, explained.