It is common knowledge that high cholesterol levels in the blood can cause a number of health problems, some of a very serious nature. It is in your own interest to reduce the level of blood cholesterol.
The name “cholesterol” refers to a family of compounds that are found in the body. Some of these cholesterols may be good (HDL), others may be bad (LDL) for you. The trick is to maintain a decently high level of the good and reduce the bad cholesterol.
A high level of cholesterol is no disease in itself. The actual diseases are born out of this condition. When there is an excess of bad cholesterol in the blood, the circulatory system gets stressed and consequently the heart is strained. This leads to clogging of the arteries, a condition known as atherosclerosis. That apart the heart also begins to falter, a condition known as cardiac arrhythmia. High blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack are results of the condition brought on by high levels of LDL in the blood. So keeping LDL in check will protect you from these diseases. If you already have any of these problems, keeping a check on LDL will reduce their severity. Read on to find out how you can keep LDL in check.
The body regulates the level of cholesterol in the blood. As long as this regulation proceeds as required, there is no problem. There are times when this regulation fails. There are two common situations which lead to such failure. One is when we overdose the body with bad cholesterol. How? By eating of course! Oils, fats, animal produce, and some substances like sodium lead to a build up of bad cholesterol in the blood. Keep these villains off your diet and the bad cholesterol will drop back to normal level.
The second step is physical exercise. Include a lot of physical activity into your routine. Exercise and physical activity can help to control and reduce the level of blood cholesterol. The American Heart Association advises people who have high blood cholesterol to get at least thirty minutes of exercise every day. You are at liberty to choose your exercise break-up. Do it all at one go, or do it in three spells or whatever. Just be consistent and regular in exercising. Over exercising is as bad as not exercising at all. You can converge some of your daily activities into your exercise regime. For example, park your car at a (reasonable!) distance from your office, and then jog to the office. Take the elevator to the floor just below yours, and then walk up the last flight of stairs. Don’t take the car to the park, ride a bike instead. If you like swimming, there’s nothing like it for all round exercise.
Apart from dietary intake and a sedentary lifestyle, some lifestyle activities can be harmful for you as far as high LDL is concerned. If you smoke, then you’ll do yourself a load of good by stopping that habit. Even secondary smoke is harmful, so avoid places where there’s a lot of cigarette smoke.
There is another factor which can cause high levels of bad cholesterol. The problem is that the body’s regulatory mechanism is not working properly. This is usually a genetic problem and it could be hereditary. The only way out of this situation is medication. Your doctor will do the needful.
The level of cholesterol in your blood can seriously affect your life and lifestyle! Before that happens, it is better that you consciously work your way to a better lifestyle. Watch your diet, exercise regularly, and stop smoking; these are simple ways to get on top of your high cholesterol condition. Medication is always there if the simple methods don’t work. Remember, high cholesterol can lead to life altering and even life threatening cardio-vascular conditions, such as strokes and heart attacks. Your general health goes down, and you can suffer from many other unrelated diseases. Therefore it is in your own best interest to get serious about controlling the level of cholesterol in your blood – for good!
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