How Can I Improve My Kidney Function?

The kidneys, the ureters, the urinary bladder and the urethra together form our urinary system. The kidneys are a very important organ of our body, as they perform an important function of filtering our blood. After the blood comes into the kidneys, they sort out all the waste from the blood. They maintain the electrolyte levels and fluid balance. Then they convert the waste products into urine and this urine is then collected in the kidneys in a part known as pelvis, until it is time to move that urine through the ureters into the urinary bladder. Hence, it is exceptionally important to keep our kidneys in their prime health, so that the body functions like it should be.

How Can I Improve my Kidney Function?

Kidneys are of utmost importance for our overall health. Hence, it is of prime necessity to keep them in good shape and sound health. Some simple but important lifestyle steps can help us achieve the goal of keeping our kidneys healthy and improving kidney function. Also, if at all one is suffering from any of the kidney conditions; these steps will help one to improve the prognosis of the disease.

The first and foremost thing to be kept in mind is to keep the fluids level up in the body. Maintaining proper hydration level is very important for the overall health of the kidneys and kidney function. This helps the kidneys in functioning properly, by maintaining the fluid content of the urine and reducing the acid content.

Eat a healthy and balanced diet, which contains fruits, vegetables and whole grains for proper kidney function. Stay away from processed foods, especially if you are already suffering from any kidney disease. Processed foods are very high in sodium and phosphorous. And in many kidney conditions, it is asked to control the intake of these substances. These cause a considerable damage to even the healthy kidneys. Hence, go low on these.

Salt, as everyone knows is not an ideal companion for the proper kidney function, especially when consumed in excess. As salt is sodium and sodium in excess is quite harmful for your kidneys. So, next time you reach out for that salt shaker, do give your kidneys a thought.

Watch out for that uncontrolled increase in your blood pressure. Kidneys are provided with a dense network of high volumes of blood supply. Any uncontrolled blood pressure can damage the blood vessels around your kidneys, causing them to damage and stop or reduce the blood supply to the kidneys. This can result in kidney failure.
Avoid smoking and alcohol consumption in excess for proper kidney function. Smoking can cause proteinuria, a sure sign of kidney damage. Similarly, alcohol can reduce the efficiency of kidneys functioning capacity.

Weight is another matter of concern for the kidneys. Excess weight may increase the blood pressure, in turn damaging the kidneys.

Normal functioning of the kidneys can get affected because of several reasons. This results in different conditions of the kidneys. Some of them are pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis, nephrolithiasis, nephrotic syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, acute renal failure, chronic renal failure, kidney cancer, diabetic nephropathy etc. Some of these conditions are acquired ones, while the others are hereditary or genetic. There isn’t an option to stop hereditary or genetic ones from developing, but the acquired ones can be surely kept at bay by following a certain lifestyle.

All these conditions have different degrees of severity and different protocols for treatment.

There are several tests which can diagnose these conditions, and the treatment can be started accordingly. The treatments may include a wide variety from non-invasive methods to invasive ones.

Kidneys are an important part of our body’s normal functioning mechanism. It is extremely essential to keep them healthy and it is not very difficult to achieve this. Just some simple lifestyle steps can keep acquired kidney problems away, by improving the kidney function and, these changes can help you fight any kidney disease effectively and improve the prognosis.

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