The liver plays a significant role in your body’s functionality and though you may not have been aware of this, experts have explained that some of the things you engage in on a daily basis can actually render significant damages on your liver. So in this article, I will be explaining to you some of these habits and how best you can avoid them.
1. Alcohol abuse
If I may borrow the adage about fire: “Alcohol is a good servant but a bad master”. An occasional and moderate consumption of alcohol is recommended as being helpful in the human system, but while that remains true, over consumption of alcoholic substances is one of the root causes of liver damage. Every time you consume an excessive amount of alcohol, you dampen your liver’s ability to remove harmful toxins from your body. This is because at that point in time, you liver begins to convert that alcohol into a less toxic form, instead of removing other toxins. When this becomes a constant occurrence, it eventually damages your liver’s cells, giving rise to cirrhosis – which if left unattended to, triggers cancer.
2. Overuse of medications
While this may not be true for all medications, it has proven to be true for certain types of medications such as antidepressants, pain relievers, mood stabilizers and certain drugs used for treating inflammation. The resulting side effects from these drugs have been observed to cause adverse effects on the overall functionality of your liver.
3. Bad diet
Fatty foods and high cholesterol foods do not only damage your liver, they also damage other internal organs. But for the purpose of this article we’ll focus on the effects they have on your liver. Studies have traced a host of liver problems to an unhealthy eating lifestyle that is often composed of too much sodium, unwanted calories and excessive sugar (among other things), because the liver is a very sensitive organ of the body that may easily get damaged by a poor diet.
4. Holding your pee
Another habit that can damage your liver is repeatedly keeping urine in your bladder for long durations. Not only does it damage your liver, it can also affect the performance of your kidneys. So it’s recommended that you urinate as often as you feel the urge to, especially in the early hours of the day – after waking from sleep.
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