Common Habits that Damage your Liver

The liver is one of the most important organs in the body, the liver is responsible for processing every single thing you eat or drink before it can be distributed to the body. It has a wide variety of functions and plays a very vital role in the body. Our health is related to the health of our liver. No matter what we do to the liver, it can replace damaged cells and even restore itself to a point but after a while, the liver becomes so damaged that it cannot repair itself, especially if we continue our bad habits that are destroying the liver.

The liver's main function is to filter the blood coming from the digestive tract, before passing it to the rest of the body. The liver also detoxifies chemicals, neutralizing and destroying all drugs and toxins. It breaks down food and turns them into energy, combating infections, manufacturing, breaking down, and regulating numerous hormones, and processing digested food from the intestine.

Everyday habits and the foods that we are consuming can cause serious liver damage without us knowing. The damage can be gradual and without obvious symptom.

Some of the common habits that damage the liver are;

Not Eating Breakfast – When you sleep and wake up, the glucose which your body reserves for energy to enable you carry out your daily activities are too low, therefore, it affects your liver and prevents it from getting energy to perform its essential functions. There are a lot of people who skip breakfast to lose weight, or because they are in a hurry and they ignore or forget to eat breakfast. Never skip breakfast for any reason, skipping breakfast can cause serious health problem and can as well damage your liver. Don’t forget this essential part of your nutrition, because your body, liver and brain need this amount of essential energy to start the day.

Not urinating in the morning – Most people feel lazy to wake up in the early hours of the morning to ease themselves. Holding your urge to urinate in the morning will not only damage your liver, but will damage your kidney as well.

Sleep Deprivation – People who suffer from sleep deprivation suffer from a large range of health problems, such as, obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. There livers cannot process fat efficiently and instead allowing fat to accumulate. Also when we sleep, our body goes into a repair process, so make sure you get a good eight hours of sleep, as lack of sleep will ruin your elimination process and damage your liver.

Smoking – Cigarette smoke affect the liver indirectly. The toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke eventually reach to the liver and cause oxidative stress to the liver that produces free radicals that damage the liver cells. This oxidative stress also causes fibrosis, a process in which the liver develops excess tissue similar to scar tissue, during its attempt to repair itself, and this can greatly affect the liver. Also these toxic chemicals reduce the liver's functions over time so it becomes less effective in performing its main role.

Overuse of Medications – The liver's role is to break down substances we consume, including medications, herbs and supplements. Consuming too much of certain medications can gradually harm the liver. The damage can range from mild to a complete liver failure. This is true not just for conventional medicines but also for natural supplements and herbs, as they, too, can be harmful to the liver in excess amounts. It is very important to check the label of any medicine or supplement to see if there are any warnings of possible liver damage. Taking too much vitamins A in a single day can literally be toxic to your liver and can cause liver damage.

Excessive Alcoholic Intake – I believe everyone is familiar with this common cause of liver damage. Excess amount of alcohol decreases the liver's ability of removing toxins from the body. This is because the liver gets diverted from its other functions and focuses mainly on converting alcohol to a less toxic form, and this causes fatty liver diseases and inflammation. When the liver tries to break down the alcohol, the resulting chemical reaction can damage the liver cells, and after a long time of consuming excess amount of alcohol, the damage can become permanent and cause cirrhosis which means (scaring of the liver) which can make the liver  to lose its ability to function.

BY: Mercy Kukah