Is Water Good For Your Kidneys?

Is water good for your kidneys? It’s a common question with a simple answer: yes, water is good for your kidneys. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but generally speaking, water is not only beneficial to your kidneys, but vital to its function.

Why Your Kidneys Need Water

Your kidneys need water because your body needs water. Imagine that your body is a city: water acts like a vehicle bringing minerals and nutrients to all the factories and services (aka: organs), and expelling waste. Just as water is necessary to move the good stuff around your body, it’s also necessary to haul the bad stuff away.
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Your kidneys remove toxins from your body with water, and also use water to deliver hormones throughout your body. Water is crucial for your body’s health in general, and water is good for your kidneys too. If you’re not adequately hydrated, you leave your kidneys and entire body vulnerable to many risks.

Risks of Dehydration

• Kidney stones: As we mentioned above, water helps deliver critical vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients throughout your body. But when you’re dehydrated, these minerals can accumulate in the kidneys and can become hard and grow into kidney stones, leading to the often-painful process of passing them through your urine.
  
• More susceptible to UTIs: Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) have much better chances of taking hold if you’re dehydrated. When hydrated, you produce urine which helps flush dangerous bacteria from your body, reducing the risk of UTIs and other infections.
  
• Less ability to regulate blood pressure: Water helps keep your blood vessels hydrated and allows blood to circulate freely through your body and kidneys. Being dehydrated can exacerbate existing blood pressure issues, and damage to the blood vessels in your kidneys can seriously impact their ability to function.
  
• Nutrients aren’t getting where they need to go: As we mentioned, water acts like a delivery vehicle in your body, bringing nutrients everywhere they need to go. However, if you’re dehydrated, it’s as though you don’t have enough drivers, and your body will be ill-equipped to bring nutrients to your kidneys and all your other organs that function at their best when properly hydrated.

How Much Water Should You Drink?

Clearly water is critical for your kidneys and your body on the whole. You want to take care of it, but how much water should you be drinking? Well, it depends. Historically, eight cups of water a day has been the standard recommendation. While eight cups a day isn’t a bad goal, it’s definitely not a perfect measure for everyone, and it falls quite short of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s findings.

The Academies found that a person’s total water intake—water consumed by drinking, as well as by consuming foods such as melons and vegetables—should be around 3.7 liters for men and 2.7 liters for women.

Fluids can also be obtained through a variety of means; water isn’t the only option. Water can be supplemented with the following:

• Low-fat milk, which is mostly water
• Herbal teas without sweeteners
• Fruits and vegetables like celery or watermelon, which are mostly water.

Still, you should adapt your fluid intake to your life. If you engage in strenuous exercise or if it’s summertime, you’ll likely need to consume more water than a sedentary person in winter. Pregnant or breast-feeding women also usually need to increase their water intake to stay adequately hydrated. Additionally, you may need to adjust your water intake depending on medications or medical procedures.

What if You're on Dialysis?

For most people, drinking quite a bit of water is ideal. However, if you are on dialysis, your water intake actually needs to be limited. Dialysis is highly effective, but it simply isn’t the same as the 24/7 function of healthy kidneys, and consuming too much fluid while on dialysis can lead to edema—swelling that typically occurs in the face, wrists, ankles, and feet. People with kidney failure should always consult with their nephrologist to maintain an optimal level of hydration.

Urine is a Good Indicator of how Hydrated You Are

Fortunately, you often don’t need a professional to tell you if you’re getting enough fluids each day—your urine can tell you that. Urine that’s a very faint yellow or clear color is a strong indicator that you’re giving your kidneys the support they need, whereas urine that’s a darker yellow, you need to drink more water. It’s normal for the color of your urine to change slightly from day to day, but monitor it to ensure it’s staying relatively the same and that you’re staying fully hydrated.

Water is Part of a Kidney-Friendly Diet and Lifestyle

Following a kidney-friendly diet and staying hydrated can work wonders, helping your kidneys to perform better and longer, even if you have kidney disease. Milwaukee Nephrologists is dedicated to helping our patients gain a greater understanding of kidney disease, and what their options are for avoiding or treating it.
Our board-certified specialists make Milwaukee Nephrologists your go-to experts on all-things kidneys. Whether you have been treating renal disease for years or if you or a loved one are at risk of kidney disease, Milwaukee Nephrologists can help. To schedule an appointment, contact us today for an examination, or learn more about kidney health on our blog.