Staying up late, considering energy drinks as "miracle drugs", 18-year-old Gen Z has kidney failure

The consequences of endless nights of being friends with energy drinks

In the summer months of 2023, Vu Van Bao ( Hai Duong ) entered the acceleration phase of the high school graduation exam.

Like many students, Bao also took advantage of every precious moment to study for the exam. The time spent studying for the exam is inversely proportional to the time spent sleeping. To deal with the moments of drowsiness, he turned to soft drinks and energy drinks as a “miracle drug” to help him stay awake.

“The feeling of fatigue and lack of sleep immediately disappeared when I drank energy drinks. Staying up late made me hungry, so I ate more,” Gen Z recalled the time when studying day and night turned his life upside down.

Overeating and not getting enough sleep, the first signs of the disease had quietly appeared but Bao did not pay attention.

“My weight increased to 83kg, my body was swollen. My face was visibly darker, and acne appeared all over my face. But I thought that my weight gain and acne were mostly due to my unhealthy lifestyle and staying up too late, so I didn't pay much attention to it," Bao recounted.

Thức khuya, coi nước tăng lực là thần dược, Gen Z 18 tuổi suy thận - 1 — Bao gained weight and had severe acne during this time (Photo: NVCC).

After passing the exam, Bao went to Hanoi to enroll in school. The young man still maintained his habits of sleeping late, eating at night, and drinking soft drinks. Symptoms of frequent urination appeared, starting to hinder his daily life.

“At first, I thought I was peeing frequently because I drank too much water. But when I had to get up every 3-4 minutes to relieve myself, I realized something was wrong with my body,” Bao said. When he looked closely, his urine had a cloudy white residue, and Bao realized it was time to see a doctor.

At the age of 18, the boy who had never been seriously ill and had a "strong" body was shocked to receive the news that he had stage 1 kidney failure.

“When I found out the results, I was shocked. I was only 18 years old at the time, I had never been seriously ill, I was tall and healthy, but I had kidney failure,” Bao shook his head.

Paying the price for thinking "the disease will not come to me"

“I didn’t dare go anywhere because there were times when the urge to urinate became more and more difficult to control,” Bao recalls the time when his illness was at its most serious.

The first time he went for a check-up, his creatinine level was 123, while for healthy men with good kidney function, the creatinine index is usually between 53-106. Although the difference was not too big, it was enough for Bao to call the days of uncontrolled urination the worst days of his life.

After going to the doctor, he received a prescription from the doctor and initially made changes in his lifestyle.

“Although I adjusted my diet and took prescribed medication, the second time I went to the doctor, my creatinine still did not decrease, and my uric acid level was even higher than before.

The doctor mentioned the risk of kidney failure becoming more serious,” the young man was even more shocked.

Subjectivity towards signs of the disease probably comes from the typical thinking of young people that "many people are like me so it's not certain that it will be my turn".

Unbalanced and unhealthy eating and living habits can silently destroy the body and only be discovered when it reaches a stage that is difficult to cure. Early detection of kidney failure is a blessing for Bao as there is still hope for treatment.

Bao is only a first-year university student, still harboring many big plans, and is even more frightened by the images of young people with end-stage kidney failure in the hospital every day.

“I was shocked, not thinking that at the age of 18-19 there were people with kidney failure, even more serious than me. Luckily, I discovered it early, I was more determined to change myself and cure the disease,” Bao said.

The third time he went to the doctor, the bad indicators had decreased significantly. The next time he went to the doctor, the numbers had returned to normal, and the symptoms of the disease were gone. After 4 months since the discovery of kidney failure, the young man had completely changed his thinking about his lifestyle.

Unexpected "medicine" from food and drink

The doctors' treatment for Bao, in addition to taking medicine, is surprisingly simple: Eat less salt, get enough rest, and increase exercise time.

The cause of kidney failure in many young people comes from overlooking seemingly normal eating and living habits: a balanced diet with salt and protein, drinking less sugary drinks, getting enough sleep 8 hours/day, exercising to improve health and metabolism...

The purpose is to prevent the kidneys from being overloaded, leading to a decline in function, or even not having enough strength to function and then "going on strike" without realizing it.

Since he got kidney failure, Bao has completely given up soft drinks and energy drinks. Instead, he considers his personal water bottle his best friend and always carries it with him. When eating out, he also chooses water instead of other drinks.

The young man's diet has also changed significantly. No more fried or heavily seasoned foods, Bao eats boiled foods and uses less salt than before.

“The menu for people with kidney failure actually has many similarities with eat clean weight loss, but depending on the stage and severity of the disease, I adjust the diet,” Bao said.

Eating too much protein in the past was one of the main causes of his kidney failure.

After getting sick, he increased his vegetable intake, reduced the amount of protein in each meal, and chose to eat tofu, eggs, etc. instead of eating too much meat.

Adjusting and balancing nutrients, especially protein intake, will help uric acid in the blood stay at normal levels, avoiding kidney overload leading to kidney failure and many other diseases.

After suffering from kidney failure, one of the first things Bao decided to change was his body's biological clock: "I no longer stay up all night like before. Instead, I choose to go to bed early and increase the time I spend exercising and playing sports ."

Currently, Gen Z spends 2 hours a day exercising. Sometimes it's jumping rope, doing resistance training, or simply using public exercise machines at the playground near their home.

Recently, Bao used TikTok to share his story, but he received many opinions that he used his illness to attract views.

“I don’t think I would use illness to attract viewers’ interactions. Recently, there have been many cases of kidney failure at a very young age. I just want to share my story to warn those who are still subjective about their health like I was before,” Bao said.

According to Dr. Nguyen Van Tuyen - Head of the Department of Nephrology and Urology, Duc Giang General Hospital (Hanoi), unscientific living habits are becoming a common cause of kidney failure in young people.

"Many cases of chronic kidney failure are caused by eating fatty foods, staying up late, prolonged stress, and lack of exercise," said Dr. Tuyen.

The danger of this disease is that it progresses silently, with almost no obvious symptoms in the early stages.

"Regular health check-ups, especially early kidney function check-ups, are the only way to detect diseases in time. Unfortunately, many young people are still subjective, thinking they are still healthy so they skip regular check-ups. By the time they discover the disease, it is too late," Dr. Tuyen warned.

In addition to a healthy lifestyle, Dr. Tuyen emphasized the importance of regular health check-ups, especially for people with high risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Photo: Hung Anh

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/thuc-khuya-coi-nuoc-tang-luc-la-than-duoc-gen-z-18-tuoi-suy-than-20250623200333619.htm