Stress affects the body in different ways and by all means, it is always for the worst. Everyone experiences stress from time to time, be it physically or psychologically. Life is never a smooth ride and whenever things take a bad turn, stress levels heighten. At such times, when you’re overly stressed, you are usually putting a strain on your organs and ruining your overall well-being. One of the organs that are affected by stress is the kidney, which is responsible for urine formation, ridding your body of excess water, and waste from the blood. Stress usually affects how well your kidneys work and in the process, they get hurt.
Can Kidneys Get Hurt From Stress?
The effect of stress on your kidneys is very indirect. Stress affects your kidneys indirectly from resulting responses to stress. In the case of psychological stress, many people tend to “stress eat” unhealthy foods, drink too much alcohol and neglect their body’s health altogether. Since the kidneys will need to clean out your body system, the aforementioned habits may have a negative effect. For example, eating unhealthy foods and drinking excessive alcohol lead to increases fats and sugars in your body, which can result in diabetes or heart problems. As for physical stress, when the stress responses are frequent, one may develop increased blood pressure levels, heart problems, and high sugar levels. All these effects cause damage to your kidneys, and once that has been done, it cannot be reversed.
Managing Stress to Spare Your Kidneys
Whether voluntary or involuntary responses to stress, it is important that you look out for your kidneys. It is never easy to manage stress and it is more difficult to control bodily responses to stress. Nevertheless, that does not mean you cannot try and manage stress. Some of the habits you should embrace to help you cope with stress include;
- Exercising regular and remain active
- Watching what you eat and eating healthier foods
- Avoid too much fatty and sugary foods
- Reduce your intake of alcohol, especially when stressed
- Try meditation and yoga
- Talk to your friends and family about your problems or write them down
- Get enough sleep and for adequate time
- Observe positivity
- Have time to relax and unwind every day.
What is Stress?
Stress can be explained as anything that disturbs the balance either in your life or body. In terms of life, stress is seen as psychological that can be instigated by anxiety, conflict in mind, and threats to your well-being. This type of stress is something we face on a daily basis from activities happening in our daily lives. It can either be from negative things or even positive ones which you are anxious about. For example, the death of a loved one, fear, family problems and even getting married or having kids. Psychological stress is all dependent on how you handle things and process them. The better you are at it, the less stressed you’ll be, and if you handle things poorly, then the more stressed you’ll become.
Physical stress is associated with body strain, which can be traced back to bodily harm. This can be as a result of injury or from the fact that you are ailing from a certain disease. When you are experiencing physical stress, some of the responses you have to the stress include; increased heartbeat rate, muscle tension, increase in blood pressure, increased levels of sugars and fats in blood and dilated pupils. These responses have a positive immediate effect, but with time, they can lead to serious health complications. For people already experiencing complications such as hypertension, high blood pressure, heart or kidney disease, then the consequences can be fatal.
Conclusion
Stress is part of life, but don’t let that deter you from what matters. Your health is very vital to your life and if you don’t take better care of yourself, you’re only reducing the quality of your life. Stress can cause a series of internal health problems, which in turn cause a strain to your kidneys. Finally, that leads to damaged kidneys, and once the damage is done, there is no going back. Stress will harm your kidneys if you don’t learn how to take control. It will be challenging at first, but with time, you will learn to cope with stress. Consequently, you’ll be reducing the risk of kidney diseases or failure.
- Cleveland Clinic – The Impact of Stress on Kidney Health
- Mayo Clinic – Chronic Stress Puts Your Health at Risk
- WebMD – How Stress Affects Your Body
Also Read:
- What Causes Kidneys to Leak Protein & How to Stop it?
- How Do You Know If Your Kidneys Are Not Working Properly?
- What Foods are Good For Your Kidneys?
- What Foods are Bad for the Kidneys?
- Can Your Damaged Kidneys Be Repaired?
- How to Flush Your Kidneys?
- What Is The Best Thing To Drink For Your Kidneys?
