Lower Your Cholesterol

High cholestrol is a touchy subject for many of us. You could be one of those people who end up with a high cholestrol level and might have to take a prescription to help bring it back down to a safer state. If you do not bring it down to a healthy level for your body, you could end up with more problems. You could finish up in hospital with more serious complications such as artheoschelosis or heart disease.

With high cholestrol counts you actually have clots going trough you that can end up blocking an artery or vein that will cause you great discomfort and you may end up with the signs of a stroke or hear attack. The outcome would be having to go through an operation to try to open up the blockage. That would not only be hard for you to go through but it would also be hard for your family to see you go through it as well.

There is help out there and the main person that can help you out is you doctor. They have the ability to give you the proper medication to help bring your cholestrol level down to where it should be for you. By doing this it could save you a lot of pain in the future. The worse thing to do is find out the hard way that you have a cholestrol problem.

That may be when you end up in the hospital from heart complications that you were not aware of because you never went to the doctors for a check up when you thought you were healthy. The main advice that you could give or even receive is that you need to go to the doctor for a check up at least once a year and let them know if you have a family history of high cholestrol. If you do have such a history you may be more likely to suffer from it as well. That is something that your physician would need to decide.

Article submitted by guest author:  Sally Mundy

How to Recognize a Symptom Of High Cholesterol

Cholesterol is an essential substance in our body which contributes to producing a number of hormones and cell membrane however, when in high levels it can clog our arteries and lead to coronary heart attack.

What Causes High Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fatty, wax like substance that is present in our cells and blood steam. Cholesterol plays an important part in our body by producing cell membranes and contributing to a number of hormones as well. Why then are we told to avoid high levels of cholesterol and what causes it?

Two Types of Cholesterol

There are two types of cholesterol. One is good (HDL or high density cholesterol) and the other is bad (LDL or low density cholesterol). The good cholesterol should be in levels of minimum 40md/dL or more and the bad cholesterol should be less than 200mg/dL.

The bad cholesterol is responsible for causing clogged arteries and thus provoking coronary heart disease.

The Cause of High Cholesterol

The cause of high cholesterol is primarily due to eating an excess of food products which contain trans fat and saturated fats as well as cholesterol. This increases the levels of cholesterol in the blood stream. There is more than one cause of high cholesterol however, such as excess weight, genes, gender and age.

Obesity

Excess weight plays a big role in the cause of high cholesterol as it occurs when the body mass is mostly made up of fat which in turn contains cholesterol. Therefore, it is important to keep your weight under control at all times and should you have some pre-existing conditions which might lead to obesity you should consult a doctor for alternate options in order to control your cholesterol levels.

Heredity

Your family's health history is transmitted to you in the genes so if anyone in your family has suffered from high cholesterol you may have a predisposition to the same. This situation can be controlled through medication as well but only under a doctor's supervision.

Age

Men have been found to be prone to high levels of cholesterol in their teens and women after menopause. Both men and women can control and maintain a normal level of cholesterol if they act in time and with the right life style changes.

Preventing High Cholesterol

Mostly the cause of high cholesterol is our own negligence and therefore, if we pay more attention to what we eat as well as to how much exercise we actually do everyday we can prevent and improve the levels of bad cholesterol we have as well as maintain it at the right level. Start taking charge of your cholesterol levels today. Eat right, exercise and check your cholesterol level regularly.

If you are looking for one main cause of high cholesterol, then you are in for a big surprise, because there is more than one and each of them is as important as the other. Cholesterol causes can be divided into two types: ones you can control and ones you can't.

Causes of High Cholesterol That You Cannot Control

There are always things that you can and cannot help. In this case, there are causes that are beyond your power to control, such as your age, gender, and genes. You cannot help it if you are a male and by default fall into the high category of bad cholesterol; you cannot help it if you are growing old and slowly building up cholesterol because of your increasing age; and lastly, you cannot help it if you carry the bad cholesterol genes causing the liver to produce more than the required amount of cholesterol.

Men usually have higher cholesterol levels than women until age fifty, after which women overtake men in the reading of cholesterol. However, because men tend to have cholesterol from their thirties onwards, the medical guidelines have put them in the higher danger bracket.

Causes of High Cholesterol That Can Be Controlled

There are always some parameters by which you can control your health. With cholesterol, the parameters usually converge upon your intake and the way you treat your body. Hence, the major areas that you can help are in your diet, weight, stress level, and the amount of intoxicants you take (smoking, alcohol, etc).

Diet is the most important factor and the most powerful for controlling cholesterol. Today it is not difficult to adopt a cholesterol free diet because the market is full of products that will help you keep your body cholesterol free.  If the diet is healthy you will have 90% of the battle won. The last 10% will depend upon the other factors.

Now, if you maintain a cholesterol free diet, your weight will also be in control. But if you are already overweight and are trying to control your diet, then you will have to take the advice and help of a nutritionist and/or medical practitioner to reduce your weight to the acceptable limits. Being overweight is one of the main causes for compounding heart problems.

RediClinic Offers New Low-Cost Cholesterol Program to Help ... - PR Newswire (press release)

Source: news.google.com