How to prevent kidney disease

Kidney Disease commonly happens due to various underlying conditions like diabetes and hypertension. People with these underlying conditions have more chances of developing kidney disorders. So, controlling hypertension and diabetes in a certain way can definitely be a way to stay away from the kidney problems. There can be various issues like kidney stones, renal hypertension, renal failure, etc. Bad diet and lifestyle is the major factor that leads to bad kidneys. To avoid all the complications here we shall discuss the main ways to avoid kidney disorders.

Stop the unnecessary habits like a smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol.

Alcohol is the major concern in deteriorating the healthy organs of our body. Alcohol is the main reason for the following,

• The kidneys are the organs that filter the blood and it is to a larger extent affected by the presence of alcoholic content in the blood. It causes impaired functioning.
• Overload on kidneys causing the kidney to shut down happens in the due course of time. Usually seen in chronic drinkers.
• The glomerular filtration rate is reduced and urine output is disturbed and reduced.

Tobacco chewing and cigarette smoking cause peripheral vascular diseases and have an adverse effect on the blood vessels that leads to abnormal blood pressure. This causes less or more blood supply to kidneys causing them a damage by reduced oxygen or overload of work.

Prevent kidney disease by following daily physical exercise.

Proper bodily activities are essential to staying healthy and fit. Hence there are various ways one can adopt to keep their kidneys in proper shape and function.

• Aerobic exercises: Walking with moderate speed for middle aged people can is the mandatory task here. 20-60 minutes walk on slight up inclination or flat surface is the best choice. It can also include swimming, cycling, jogging, jumping 4 or 5 times a week.
• Stretching exercises: Leg splits, arms stretching, side bending, back bending, etc are the exercises one should do in order to keep the soft tissues of our body healthy in turn keeping the entire body healthy.
• Yoga and meditation: Breathing exercises and pranayamas and asanas are great to control hypertension and diabetes in turn your kidneys. Avoid bhramari Pranayama in severe degrees of hypertension.

Proper diet is the key to preventing kidney diseases.

In suspected kidney diseases or other predisposing factors, one should consider modifying their diet plan to not let any complications arise. These simple diet control can save your bean shaped organs:

• Have a low potassium diet: This includes avoiding dry fruits like almonds, cashews, raisins, figs, avocado, etc. This includes eating delicious vegetables like cabbage, carrots, beans, etc.
• Have a low sodium diet by restricting the salt usage to below 2grams daily. Avoid or reduce eating pickles and packaged food items.
• Reduce dietary sugar intake so as to control diabetes. Avoid crystal sugar, cakes, desserts overall. 
• Avoid gluten in your diet: Reduce the usage of loaves of bread and flour overall. It elicits pressure on the liver and kidneys to metabolize and eliminate it from the body respectively.
• Avoid milk and dairy products: Cheese and butter isn’t a good option as it increases the risk of hypertension by elevated cholesterol levels in the blood.
• Avoid junk and fast foods with preservatives and which have no food value. There the energy is spent by the body to digest this food which gives nothing to your body but trouble.
• Avoid animal flesh: This can be hard but one has to stop eating chicken, Mutton, pork, beef, fish, lobsters, crabs, octopus, etc.
• All that you can have: Vegetable soups, Upma, Idli, Dosa, puddings made of ragi, oats porridge, millets for better fiber content, vegetables, fruits.

Water intake to keep kidneys fit.

• Plenty of water can be consumed which flushes off the unwanted and toxic material from the kidneys.
• Keep proper track of water consumption if you are a moderate level or highly hypertensive.
• Water should be consumed every 30 minutes on an average.

Micturition and wellbeing of kidneys.

Avoid holding the urge to urinate. This is a major cause of kidney damage. This may not seem to be so important but in later times this habit of yours can cause your kidneys a lot to suffer.

• Not micturating from time to time causes urine to accumulate in the bladder and thus increases the tension on the kidneys. 
• The bladder, ureters, and kidneys are so very closely related to each other that if one of them is affected badly the rest have to suffer too.
• This can cause serious complications of kidney stones, ureter calculi, urinary bladder incontinence.

How to avoid kidney problems in people with a family history?

Familial history tends to appear in the young off springs. But this should not be seen as something uncontrollable. If the lifestyle modifications are done, one can Delay or literally avoid these complications.

• A bit of advice from doctors beforehand is a wise thing to do.
• Have adequate sleep and food.
• Have a proper exercise program set for your age and other medical condition with the help of a nephrologist and a physiotherapist.

Control other conditions like cardiovascular, hepatobiliary, and pulmonary disorders.

Kidney complications arrive in patients coping with other health issues. To prevent that overall wellbeing is aimed. 

• Keep your heart healthy. This is a key to a healthy kidney. You can do so by reducing stress in life, relaxation, meditation, healthy eating.
• Keep your liver healthy. The liver is in close approximation to your kidneys. Liver damage leads to the release of bilirubin and biliverdin in excess which makes the task to clean it up harder for your poor kidneys.
• Keep your lungs healthy. Lungs get your kidney the oxygen and it should be adequately cared for. Healthy lungs mean healthy circulation and a healthy body.

Psychological and general health care measures for a healthy kidney.

• Reduce work hours or at least adjustments are expected to be made to enable proper timely food and sleep.
• Control the tension and stress on the mind.
• Joining of laughter clubs or meditation classes can work.
• Remain calm and do not panic.
• Use clean toilets and maintain hygiene in all the activities of daily living.