{"id":49474,"date":"2025-03-11T12:59:36","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T16:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hancockhealth.org\/?p=49474"},"modified":"2025-03-13T12:33:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T16:33:46","slug":"why-is-kidney-health-so-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hancockhealth.org\/fr\/2025\/03\/why-is-kidney-health-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is Kidney Health So Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The kidneys do amazing work every hour of every day to keep us healthy and well. But exactly what they do, and what can harm them? Kidney disease affects around 1 in 10 people worldwide<\/a> and if left untreated, causes damage to the kidneys over several months or years, impairing their ability to function as they usually do.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Currently, more than 850 million people worldwide are estimated to have kidney disease. By 2030, cases are set to grow by around 15% and by 2040, they are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of lives lost. These numbers are alarming. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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Kidney diseases are silent killers and can largely affect your quality of life. Many individuals with kidney disease have progressive loss of kidney function without ever knowing until the later stages of disease. This is why it\u2019s so important that more people know about their own kidney health and ways to reduce the risk of developing kidney disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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What do the kidneys do?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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The kidneys are are complex and amazing organs that do many essential tasks to keep us healthy. They perform many complicated tasks in the body, they make urine, filter the blood and remove excess water and toxins. They also control your body’s chemical balance, blood pressure, keep the bones healthy, and help produce red blood cells, which enable oxygen to travel from the lungs to the organs and muscles around the body. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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The Eight Golden Rules of Kidney Disease Prevention<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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  1. Keep fit, be active. This can help with maintaining an ideal body weight too<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Eat a healthy diet, including reducing salt intake and limiting processed foods<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Check and control your blood sugar<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Check and control your blood pressure<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Practice proper hydration<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Don\u2019t smoke<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Don\u2019t take OTC anti-inflammatory\/pain killer pills regularly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Get your kidney function checked if you have one or more risk factors<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>
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    What are the risk factors?<\/h3>\n<\/div>
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