Is sleeping too much during the holidays to make up for sleep or damage the kidneys? A 35-year-old engineer often works overtime until late at night on weekdays and often sleeps for more than 12 hours on weekends. However, a health checkup revealed abnormal urine protein and decreased kidney function index. Hong Yongxiang, director of Hong Yongxiang Clinic, pointed out that sleeping for a long time does not necessarily mean that the body is fully rested. Instead, one should pay attention to whether there are poor sleep quality, sleep apnea or other health problems. Don’t simply regard "constant sleepiness" as just catching up on sleep. He also shared the 4 golden principles of protecting kidneys and replenishing sleep.
Hong Yongxiang shared in a Facebook post that Ajie, a 35-year-old engineer, works overtime until late at night on weekdays. He loves to "cater up on sleep" on weekends and often sleeps for more than 12 hours at a time. He thought he could repair his body in this way, until a health check revealed that urine protein turned positive and his glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) dropped sharply from 95 to 72, so he panicked and sought medical treatment. In fact, most people may think that they are catching up on sleep during the holidays, but this causes the kidneys to be dehydrated while ignoring the real cause of lethargy.
The golden sleep time for kidney protection is 6 to 8 hours
Hong Yongxiang explained that multiple large-scale tracking studies in the internationally authoritative journals "Sleep Health" and "American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD)" have shown that sleep and kidney function follow a "U-shaped curve": people who sleep less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours a day have a significantly increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and proteinuria by 14% to 20%.
He went on to say that "sleeping" is often a symptom, not a cause. The literature clearly mentions that long sleep is often a symptom of extremely poor sleep quality or chronic inflammation. The combination of hypoxia and long sleep can be as harmful to the kidneys as staying up late. The most optimal sleep time for kidney protection is actually 6 to 8 hours.
Why does sleeping during the holidays hurt your kidneys? Hong Yongxiang said that if you don't go to the toilet or drink water for more than ten hours in a row, your body will continue to lose water. The concentration of blood will cause the blood flow of the kidneys to plummet, and the burden of filtering waste will increase instantly. In particular, sleeping too little on weekdays and sleeping too much on weekends can strongly interfere with the biological clock, reduce insulin sensitivity, and induce chronic inflammation and high blood pressure, which are the two main causes of kidney failure.
Hong Yongxiang recommends three golden rules for replenishing sleep and protecting the kidneys. Replenish sleep for no more than 1 hour, and get up at a fixed time on holidays to avoid disrupting the biological clock; drink water first when you wake up, put a cup of warm water next to the bed, and add 200c.c. immediately after getting up to dilute the viscous blood; find out the cause of long sleep. If you always don't get enough sleep and snore all day long, you should check whether there is sleep hypoxia as soon as possible.
