5 Daily Habits That Can Damage Your Liver

The Liver is one of the most important organs of the body. It performs various functions that allows us to be an optimal level day in day out. The liver has wide range of functions and it plays a vital role in numerous physiological processes, including metabolic function and blood detoxification. It is also a regenerative organ i.e whenever one  of its cell is damaged, it quickly replaces it. I call it the non-complaining organ. One will not know how damaged their liver is until over 60% of its cells have been damaged. Most of the times at such points there isn’t much that can be done to salvage the situation.

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There are different habitual behavior that most of us don’t know affect our liver as the damage can be gradual and initially without obvious symptoms. But over time these bad habits can severely harm your liver. This is very dangerous, as your body cannot function properly without a properly working liver.

Common Habits That Damages The Liver

• Not Sleeping Enough

I know this may sound weird to most of us but it is actually true. A study published in the Journal of Anatomy found that sleep deprivation can cause oxidative stress to the liver. Another study reveals why shift workers and people who suffer from sleep deprivation suffer from a large range of health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more.

It was found that their livers aren’t processing fat efficiently and instead allowing fat to accumulate (which proves that the body cannot function properly without a properly working liver). Also when we sleep, our body goes into a repair process. So, make sure you get a good 8 hours of sleep, as lack of sleep will ruin your elimination process and damage your liver.

Read: How Much Sleep Is Adequate For Us Daily?

• Overuse Of Certain Medications

Overuse of over-the-counter drugs and certain prescription drugs is known to cause liver damage. Some of these drugs include antidepressants, mood stabilizers, corticosteroids (used for treating inflammation) and pain relievers. It’s therefore important to review the side effects and adverse effects of medications before taking them.

• Alcohol Consumption

I know this is an habit we all know to well. Most people know the associated dangers but we cannot overemphasize it.  Heavy alcohol consumption is the most 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 disease 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 (scarring of the liver) which leads to loss of liver function. Frequent alcohol abuse can degrade the liver over time and kill off cells. When the liver attempts to repair this damage, it could lead to DNA mutations that kick start cancers.

• Smoking

Smoking not only harms the lungs but also harms the liver. The numerous toxic substances inhaled in cigarette smoke find their way to the liver and add to the overall toxic load placed on the organ. The chemicals cause oxidative stress that lead to formation of free radicals that destroy liver cells, This is an habit you must quit to live a long healthy life.

• Poor Nutrition and Obesity

Obesity is linked to poor eating habits and can harm your liver over time, just as drinking too much alcohol does. The reason for that is that too much of the wrong foods causes excess fat build-up in the liver, known as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

The liver normally helps to process and regulate the amount of sugar and fat in the blood, but in obese people the liver becomes overwhelmed and starts storing excess fat in its own liver cells, either because there is no other place for them elsewhere or the liver fails to break them down. Over time, if too much fat is accumulated in the liver, the liver can become inflamed and the liver cells can be damaged.