The Kidney Connection: What Our Emotional Wellness Can Tell Us About Our Health

by Eboni Gee

I am the host of The Kidney Connection, a podcast about all things kidney health and dialysis wellness. I am passionate about teaching people how to protect their kidney health.

Whether you know it or not we all have to protect our kidney health. Our kidneys do so much for us every day. Flushing out the toxins in our bodies, helping to regulate our blood pressure and temperature as well as aiding in red blood cell production are just a few jobs our kidneys have.

If you do not protect your kidney health, you run the risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) which often results in kidney failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) which requires dialysis. Dialysis is a life-long journey unless you receive a kidney transplant. We will revisit dialysis again in a few.

Commons Causes of Kidney Issues

Although diabetes and hypertension are the top two causes of kidney failure, below are a few main causes of either chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease.

• Being overweight
• Poor diet
• Poor stress management
• Lack of exercise

Of the causes above, many of them are linked to unhealthy habits and routines that we all develop over the course of our lives.

Here are some unhealthy habits you might be familiar with:

• Emotional eating
• Over-eating
• Not exercising daily
• Letting stress live inside of us and not giving ourselves the grace and compassion to live, make mistakes and learn lessons in a safe environment

There are many more that could be added to this list but you get the idea.

How Emotional Wellness Plays A Role

The state of your emotional wellbeing plays a huge part in your overall wellness.

In the busyness of your day, you may not see how your decisions are contributing to your health in five, ten or maybe fifteen years from now. However, protecting and preserving your kidney health is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

There is research that suggests although you might be prone to certain diseases, your environment and diet can change your gene expression for a more favorable outcome. Developing healthy habits and routines that support not only your mental health but your physical health is very important.

If you are looking for some tips and techniques, check out our resources page. It is full of free tools to help you on your wellness journey.

How To Cope On Dialysis

Dialysis wellness, as I define it, is being in a state of wellness despite being on dialysis. Many people on dialysis either don’t believe they can or don’t know how to live a healthy life on dialysis.

There are many components to dialysis wellness and they all fit together like pieces of a puzzle. From understanding what’s going on in the dialysis unit, figuring out your diet, managing your fluid intake to deciding what access is right for you, there is so much to learn in order to successfully integrate dialysis into your life.

About The Kidney Connection Podcast

My podcast, The Kidney Connection, talks about all things dialysis wellness and kidney health in a practical way. We talk about what wellness looks like in your day-to-day life.

From educating yourself on the risks of developing chronic diseases to learning healthy coping skills that will allow you to live every day in gratitude, we have something for everyone.

The Kidney Connection is more than just a title of a podcast, it is a true representation of how your kidney health affects all other areas of your life. Once your kidneys fail, your skin changes, your bones change, your heart changes and your breathing can be impacted.

My hope is that we will all pay more attention to our kidney health so that we decrease the chances of developing chronic diseases, and live healthier longer lives.

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