Healthy Kidney
Water: nine glasses and why the kidneys care
The dullest health advice in existence, and one of the few that is almost universally under-followed.
Wellness
Healthy Kidney
Water, salt and the daily habits that keep the kidneys working quietly.
The kidneys are the quietest organs you own. They filter your entire blood volume many times a day, balance your salt and water, manage blood pressure and help make red blood cells - and they do it all without ever announcing themselves. Kidney disease is often well advanced before it produces a single symptom.
What protects them
Water, enough that your urine stays pale. Less salt, which matters more than most people realise - the load comes mainly from packaged food, pickles and papad rather than the salt shaker. Controlled blood pressure and blood sugar, because diabetes and hypertension are between them the cause of most kidney failure in India.
What harms them
Routine painkiller use is the one people do not expect. Regular NSAIDs - the common over-the-counter tablets for aches - are hard on the kidneys over time, particularly in anyone already dehydrated or older. Unprescribed antibiotics and unregulated traditional preparations belong on the same list.
A painkiller taken every day for a year is a decision, whether or not you made it deliberately.
Get tested if
You have diabetes, high blood pressure, or a family history of kidney disease. A simple blood creatinine and a urine test will tell you where you stand, and early kidney disease responds far better to treatment than late kidney disease does.
Reading
Products
Insulated water bottle
Insulated water bottle
Thirst is a late signal, not an early one. A bottle within reach is most of the solution.