Islamabad - The incidence of chronic kidney disease is rising in the country owing to late diagnosis, high volume of stones disease and rising trend of diabetes and high blood pressure in people.
According to health experts, blood pressure and diabetes must be controlled optimally to keep kidney fit and the best way to prevent kidney failure is early diagnosis of underlying disease and aggressive treatment. They said diet, nutrition and lifestyle should be healthy throughout the life even if diabetes or blood pressure is under control. They said that toxic drugs and fake medicines have their own considerable share in kidney damage.
Dr Wasim Khawaja from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said that kidney diseases are diagnosed through history, examinations by qualified doctors and specific tests. He said that many people know nothing about kidney disease until it’s too late, adding, because of lack of awareness diagnosis gets delayed.
He observed that unlike many diseases, kidney disease often has no symptoms until it is very advanced. He said to keep kidneys healthier for longer time, a very important step is to learn about the disease and also get kidneys tested on periodic basis. He recommended making sure fluid intakes are proper during kidney disorder. He said that the clues that can make people aware of kidney problems are generalized weakness, increasing paleness, aches and pain, vomiting, falling appetite, body swelling, breathing difficulties and blood in urine. Kidney diseases also run in families, he added.
Dr Wasim Khawaja said that kidney disease is usually a progressive disease, which means that the damage in the kidneys tends to be permanent. He added kidney diseases also make risks for heart diseases and stroke higher.
He said if one or both kidneys fail completely then kidney no longer filters wastes properly to keep a person healthy.
He said that the treatment of kidney failure is either hemodialysis or kidney transplant, whereas dialysis offer an excellent short time cure. He advised that once the kidney damages, patients with blood pressure and diabetes should visit their doctor regularly. The dose of antibiotics should be adjusted according to the kidney function, he added.
He said many kidney diseases can be treated efficiently if diagnosed in time otherwise permanent kidney damage occurs that can prove fatal for the patient.
Poor sleep may make you more impulsive
Sleep deprivation may put you at increased risk for succumbing to impulsive desires, inattentiveness and questionable decision-making, says a study. The researchers found that poor sleep habits can have a negative effect on self-control, which presents risks to individuals’ personal and professional lives said a study published in Khaleej Times Sunday.
“Our study explored how sleep habits and self-control are interwoven and sleep habits and self-control may work together to affect a person’s daily one of the study authors June Pilcher, professor at Clemson University in the US.
“Exercising self-control allows one to make better choices when presented with conflicting desires and opportunities. That has far-reaching implications to a person’s career and personal life.” Poor sleep habits, which include inconsistent sleep times and not enough hours of sleep, can also lead to health problems, including weight gain, hypertension and illness. Studies have found that sleep deprivation decreases self-control but increases hostility in people, which can create problems in the workplace and at home,” Pilcher said.
“Many aspects of our daily lives can be affected by better- managed sleep and self-control capacity.” “Improved health and worker performance are two potential benefits, but societal issues such as addictions, excessive gambling and over spending could also be more controllable when sleep deficiencies are not interfering with one’s decision making,” Pilcher said.
Stress hormone enhances memory retrieval
The stress hormone cortisol strengthens memories of scary experiences in life, says a researchers report.
If a person remembering a terrifying event has a high stress hormone level, the memory of that specific event will be strongly reconsolidated after each retrieval, said a study.
“The results may explain why certain undesirable memories don’t fade, for example in anxiety and PTSD sufferers,” said Oliver Wolf from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Studies have shown that the stress hormone cortisol has a strengthening impact on the consolidation of memories.
The researchers from Bochum have demonstrated that cortisol affects memories in humans also during the so-called reconsolidation, that is, the consolidation of memories occurring after memory retrieval.
The stress hormone can enhance this process. They suggest that the results might explain the persistence of strong emotional memories occurring in anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Strong memories of stressful experiences occur frequently, but they usually fade away over time. People suffering from anxiety or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, however, are affected by terrifying memories that haunt them again and again.
In the study, the subjects on the first day learned an association between specific geometric shapes and an unpleasant electric shock.
On the second day, some of the participants were given a cortisol pill, others a placebo.
Subsequently, they were shown one of the geometric shapes associated with the electric shock. On the third day, the memory for the geometric shapes was tested.
Participants who had taken cortisol remembered the fear- associated shape particularly well, the study found.
This was evident in a heightened skin conductance, which is an established measure for emotional arousal.