High Cholesterol Levels and Health Problems
The Dangers of Having High Cholesterol
The next time you walk along the aisles of the grocery store, notice how many products are marked “low cholesterol” or “cholesterol-free” — you’ll probably see dozens of them. But why is it so important to avoid cholesterol in our foods?
Is it really so bad for our health to have high cholesterol levels?
The short answer is yes, it is dangerous to have too much cholesterol of the bad cholesterol in the body because this will increase your risks of suffering from heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular problem.
However, we do need some types of cholesterol so that our body can function properly.
Monitoring Your Cholesterol Levels
Most people who have problems with high cholesterol levels are not aware of their condition until it has progressed to the more advanced stages. The main reason for this is because they don’t undergo regular cholesterol screenings with their doctor.
As with any other health issue, prevention is the best defense against high cholesterol, so you should make sure to monitor your cholesterol levels every year and take the necessary precautions to prevent it from rising to an unhealthy number.
LDL and HDL Cholesterol Counts
When you undergo a cholesterol screening, you will find three numbers on the results of your test — the LDL count, the HDL count, and the total cholesterol count. LDL or low density lipoproteins are also known as the bad cholesterol and you don’t want this number to exceed 160.
HDL or high density lipoproteins, on the other hand, are the good cholesterol, and you want this number to be at least 60, preferably higher. The total cholesterol is the combination of these two numbers, but not necessarily their sum. If your total cholesterol is higher than 240, then you definitely have a problem with high cholesterol levels.
Heart Health Risks
The higher your cholesterol levels, the higher your risk for heart-related problems, and here is why. As the cholesterol in your body increases, they build up in your arteries, gradually blocking them, necessitating the harder pumping of your heart in order to keep the blood circulation going. The heart is not designed to go into overdrive all the time. Eventually, it will get exhausted and become weak and more prone to illness.
If you already know that your cholesterol is a bit high, then you should take steps to lower cholesterol. You can take many steps including lifestyle changes and natural cholesterol lowering supplements. Even if you currently don’t have an issue with high cholesterol levels, it would be good to start taking precautionary measures so that you won’t be at risk of so many cholesterol-related problems in the future.
Benefits of Healthy Cholesterol Levels
Reasons to Watch and Maintain Good Cholesterol Levels
People have always monitored their health in terms of numerical values, including healthy cholesterol levels, weight, blood pressure, body mass index, calories, or even their waistline.
Experts will agree that one of the most important counts is that of your cholesterol.
Until a few years ago, people had generally believed that cholesterol was a bad thing. You may have heard about ‘The Great Cholesterol Lie.’
What we have to understand is that not all kinds of cholesterol is bad. In fact, the body needs a certain type of cholesterol in order to function properly. Healthy cholesterol levels, therefore, means a lower number of bad cholesterol and a higher number of good cholesterol.
In order to understand why it is so important to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, we should first understand what it really does for our body.
Why Do We Need Healthy Cholesterol Levels?
Their primary function is to create cell membranes that support the different kinds of cells in our body. Obviously, this is an important function, making cholesterol a real necessity in the body. The problem begins when we get more cholesterol than we need.
Our body naturally produces the cholesterol that it needs but we also get cholesterol from many foods that we eat. If we don’t watch what we eat, the extra cholesterol will enter our bloodstream and clog our arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems.
This is the main reason why we need to have healthy cholesterol levels — to reduce the risk of suffering from heart-related health complications.
The lower your bad cholesterol, the healthier your cardiovascular system will be. Your blood will be able to circulate more efficiently throughout your body, carrying with it the nutrients needed by your various body parts. As a matter of fact, the results of having normal cholesterol levels will even be visible through your smoother, clearer and glowing skin, as well as shinier and healthier hair.
On the contrary, if your cholesterol levels increase beyond the normal range, you will have a higher risk of suffering from heart attacks, strokes, and many other cardiovascular problems. This is because your arteries will get clogged up with the excess cholesterol, forcing your heart to pump harder than usual.
What Can You Do To Lower Cholesterol?
The good news is that you can easily have healthy cholesterol levels if you practice some discipline over your diet, your exercise habits, and your lifestyle choices. If your diet and health is not up to par, its advisable to undergo cholesterol screenings on a regular basis. This way, you can quickly see if your cholesterol levels are veering off the healthy range and you can begin to do something about it.
You can lower cholesterol naturally, simply and easily. You can do something about it before it’s too late.
