Kidney Stones

As we get older our body begins to breakdown. It becomes less effective at producing energy and becomes weaker in terms of staving off infections and diseases.

There are many chronic diseases that we could get as we get older. I have listed 2 common conditions as follows:

Emphysema
This is quite a common disease that affects more men than women. It is a disease that affects the lungs and is often associated with people who have a heavy smoking habit. Emphysema is caused by the collapsing of the numerous little air sacs contained in the lung. When these air sacs collapse the lungs ability to transfer oxygen into the blood stream is considerably diminished. As well as cigarette and tobacco smoke this condition can also be as a result of either asthma or severe bronchitis.

To illustrate how emphysema can affect the efficiency of the lungs a sufferer may inhale oxygen up to 20 times or more per minute. However, breathing 20 or more times will still not bring enough oxygen into the lungs to supply the body. A person with this condition can be identified by their heavy wheezy cough, shortness of breath, deep and heavy breathing and in some cases they can experience choking. If you smoke your risk of getting emphysema is greatly increased. Secondary smoke can also increase the risk. Other causes of the condition can be linked to working or living in environments where there is a lot of pollution in the air.

Kidney Stones
These are hard little stones that form inside the kidney. These can be caused primarily by the type of foods or diet you eat. There are certain foods that contain high levels of a substance called oxalic acid. This substance can be found in foods such spinach. It has also been found that if you take too much of vitamin C you can also increase your risk of kidney stones forming. It is recommended that you reduce the risk of getting kidney stones by drinking plenty of clean filtered water throughout the day. The recommended daily intake of water is 8 glasses taken daily. The best time of the day to drink water is first thing in the morning as this acts as cleanser.