Healthy Livers Extend Lives: Look After Yours

Your liver is one of your vital organs. And, therefore, you need to think about how you can look after it and keep it healthy. There are many of problems that can affect your liver, so taking action and arming yourself with knowledge is vital. You should take the health of your liver just as seriously as the health of your heart, but not many people actually do this. Here’s what you can do to change all that.

Understand Your Liver and the Problems it Can Face

First of all, you need to know as much as possible about the potential problems your liver could face. Things like cirrhosis and hepatitis are among the most severe problems. Treatments like sofosbuvir are now being developed to treat such problems. But to keep your liver healthy, you need to learn more about how it functions. If you are concerned that your lifestyle up until now has not done much to help your liver, you might want to start by talking to your doctor. They will be able to tell you as much information as you need to know. And they might be able to run tests to see where the health of your liver is currently at.

Use Supplements Carefully and Modify Your Diet

Finally, you should be sure to use supplements carefully. Some supplements have been known to cause damage to the liver in some people. Some examples of supplements that have done this include cascara, kava and ephedra. You should also think about your diet and how this can impact your liver. Modifying your diet and losing weight as a result can also lower your risk of developing things like fatty liver disease.

Assess Your Levels of Alcohol Consumption

One of the most important things of all to consider is how much alcohol you consume. This is the main external factor that has an impact on your liver and how it’s able to function. If you don’t take this into account, you could consume more alcohol than your liver is capable of handling. Even if you’re not a big drinker, you can improve the health of your liver by cutting down a little. Not drinking all week and binging on alcohol at the weekends is another common problem people face. Assess your individual situation and then take steps to improve it.

Take Steps to Prevent Hepatitis

Hepatitis is a disease that can be passed on in many different ways. It usually comes about as a result of sharing things that come into contact with bodily fluids. So, drug users who share needles are particularly at risk. But you don’t have to inject heroin to be at risk of developing hepatitis. Anything from sharing a toothbrush to having unprotected sex can lead to it. It’s important to take steps to prevent getting it because it has a big impact on the health of your liver. There are three types of hepatitis, and none of them are good news as far as your liver is concerned.