Seattle Health Blog

Fact # 4: Physical exercise will lower cholesterol levels.

An increase in body weight tends to increase blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and in general the risk of adverse effects on heart health. In addition to maintaining body weight in balance, physical activity can help lower blood pressure and increase the health and general welfare.

Things can change to lower cholesterol:

• Maintain a healthy weight (a weight gain tends to increase cholesterol levels)
• Make physical activity (reduce LDL cholesterol)
• Lower stress
• A healthy diet (elimiinar especially saturated fats that raise cholesterol levels)
• Limit alcohol consumption
• Stop smoking

Things we can not change:

• Sex (men tend to have higher cholesterol levels than women until menopause, when men and women are at equal risk)
• The age (cholesterol levels increase with age)

(more…)

Fact # 1: Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in the membranes of cells in our body.

Basically, cholesterol is a lipid, which is broadly defined as any fat-soluble, naturally occurring molecule, such as fats and oils. Cholesterol originates naturally in the body through the liver, but can be created in small quantities through our diet.

Cholesterol plays an important role in the body as a building block for cell walls and bile acids and is necessary to make hormones and vitamin D. A low level of blood cholesterol is natural and healthy.

Cholesterol only becomes a problem when more cholesterol in the blood than the body needs. Can cause the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries, reducing blood flow in the arteries and then can become a problem for heart health.

Fact # 2: There are two types of blood cholesterol (good and bad) that are transported in special packages, namely:

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) transports cholesterol from the liver to body tissues. If there is a high level of bad cholesterol (LDL) levels can accumulate in the walls of blood vessels and lead to narrowing.

Your total cholesterol is made up of LDL and HDL. Therefore, the total cholesterol level recommended for heart health should be below 200 milligrams per deciliter (mg / dl).

(more…)