You don’t think much about the lifespan of your liver, but it’s a vital player in your body’s digestive system. Whatever you eat and drink passes through the liver. So, treating it in the right manner is mandatory to keep your body in good shape.
A reddish-brown liver lying on the right side beneath your lower ribcage has several important works to do. It helps clean your blood, makes a liquid called bile, and stores sugar called glucose to boost your energy. And taking good care of it is not that tricky. All you need to do is to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
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Therefore, we’ve come up with 10 tried and true ways to enhance the lifespan of your liver. Make it a part of your daily routine and give your liver a happier and healthier life.
10 Tried And True Ways To Enhance The Lifespan Of Your Liver
Liver failure is a disease you never ever want to deal with. Therefore, it is paramount you enhance the lifespan of your liver by adhering to these simple and healthy lifestyle changes.
- Limit Alcohol Consumption
Too much intake of alcohol can damage your liver cells and decrease its lifespan, resulting in swelling or scarring, which means cirrhosis. Therefore, you should limit your alcoholic drinks. To know the right amount of alcohol for yourself, take recommendations from your doctor. They may advise you to consume alcohol either in moderation or quit based on your current health status.
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- Eat Healthy Diets
If you’ll avoid eating high calorie-meals, then your liver will thank you. It will allow you to keep your weight under control, preventing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Below is the list of foods that you should avoid and those to consume to give your liver a longer lifespan.
You should avoid eating….
- White bread
- White rice (how white rice affects the liver)
- Regular pasta
You should eat and drink…
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Whole grain bread
- Cereals
- Low-fat dairy milk
Also, drink a lot of water as it will help you keep your body hydrated.
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- Give Your Body Regular Exercise
Regular exercise helps to burn triglycerides for fuel and will also reduce your liver fat. For this, you can try aerobics and heavy workout, which may lower inflammation. Or else, you can do strength training exercises like weight lifting. So, invest 30-60 minutes to aerobic exercise and strength training for 3 – 5 days a week to enhance your liver lifespan.
You can even stimulate your liver with a few yoga poses like big toe pose, standing forward bend, and standing split.
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- Get Hepatitis A and B Vaccinations
Vaccinations against hepatitis A and B can protect you from viral liver infections which can decrease its lifespan. Hepatitis A can occur through poisoned food and water, so avoid eating raw and contaminated seafood or shellfish. And hepatitis B can be as a result of sexual contact and infected blood and needles.
If you choose not to take vaccinations against hepatitis B, then practice safer sex. And talk to your doctor for further information regarding these vaccinations.
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- Be Extra Careful While Taking Certain Medicines
Some medicines can hurt your liver more than you realise. Cholesterol drugs and painkillers often have side effects, which can cause serious liver problems. Also, acetaminophen drugs to treat headaches, fever, etc. may be slowly damaging your liver’s lifespan.
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- Be Vigilant Of Weight Loss Pills And Fad Diets
Oftentimes, with a hope to lose weight, people take weight loss pills without any prescription. It may contain toxins and ingredients that can wreck your liver. Such pills are Kombucha, Ephedra, Pennyroyal, Cascara, Skullcap, Chaparral, and Kava.
Nowadays, people upload multiple diet charts on YouTube, which promises a large amount of weight loss in an unrealistic period. You also must have come across such videos during surfing. They are called fad diets, which make your weight swing up and down aggressively, putting excessive stress on your liver.
Such diets lack essential nutrients, and hence they turn into a dangerous weapon against your liver’s lifespan. So, always take note of such fad diets and ask your doctor or dietitian to help you create a healthy diet plan.
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- Avoid Sharing Personal Hygiene Items
Toothbrushes, nail clippers, etc. are personal hygiene items that can carry microscopic levels of blood or other body fluids. And that may contaminate your body or the people using it. Therefore, avoid sharing personal hygiene items with anyone else. Any form of infection arising from sharing personal hygiene stuff will surely affect the liver.
- Stay Away From Toxins
Cleaning and aerosol products, insecticides, chemicals, etc. are a few toxins that can hurt your liver cells. So, limit yourself to get in direct contact with these elements. However, use these products while ventilating the room and wearing a mask. Also, additives in cigarettes are harmful and affect your liver lifespan, so don’t smoke!.
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- Be Careful If You Have Diabetes, Hypertension, Or High Cholesterol
Diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol form a metabolic syndrome with obesity, risking you with fatty liver disease. Therefore, keeping it under control with the help of diet and regular exercise can prevent your liver from getting damaged. Also, go for regular check-ups to your doctor.
You also need to be careful while taking anti-cholesterol medications. It can occasionally jeopardize your liver lifespan, especially when you drink alcohol while consuming medicines.
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- Drink Coffee
Many drink coffee to rev them up in the morning, but it is giving more perks to your body. And in case you are a coffee lover, then there is good news for you. And that is, you are less likely to have liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, cancer and other diseases related to your liver.
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Final words
The liver is the second largest organ after the skin in our body, and giving it utmost care is your responsibility. During this COVID-19 pandemic, many aren’t working but stays at home eating, sleeping, and binge-watching. Therefore, the chances of putting on weight and becoming obese are high, causing your liver’s lifespan to reduce. To prevent it, we recommend you to follow the above lifestyle changes.
Also, not being healthy can result in a low glutathione level in your liver cells, which can increase the risk of chronic liver disease. And to cure it, doctors recommend injections, but before that, learn the benefits of glutathione injections.
On the other hand, many people are not aware that they are suffering from hepatitis disease. Therefore, with just two months away from World Hepatitis Day (28th July), raise your voice, and find the missing millions.