What Has An Affect On Cholesterol Level?
Everywhere you go you hear the buzzword, “cholesterol”, you read about it, your doctor strongly advises you to know what your cholesterol level is. Why do we need to know about what our cholesterol is doing and what causes the high levels that everyone seems to be so concerned about?
The level of your cholesterol is not in of itself going to put out any symptoms that you will feel or notice in your body. You can have a high cholesterol level and not feel anything different. Many individuals walk around with high levels of cholesterol and are unaware of what the level is doing until there is a reason to check it (disease symptom or a routine health exam). Healthcare professionals are usually concerned with finding out what your cholesterol levels are because your blood cholesterol level has a connection to your chances of experiencing a heart attack in the future.
Too much blood cholesterol can lead to a build up of plaque in the walls of your arteries (those leading to your brain and your heart).
The reason medical professionals are concerned about our levels is that lowering high levels is one way of reducing the risk for heart disease that we have some measure of control over. Anyone of any age, race or sex can have high levels of cholesterol. High cholesterol is not something that only the elderly or those who already have heart disease need to be concerned about. Any individual, who is age 20 or older, should have their blood cholesterol level checked approximately every 5 years.
The most frequently ordered test to determine your numbers is called the, “lipoprotein profile”. The individual will need to fast (not eat) for 9 to 12 hours before having the blood drawn for the test. The test will give your doctor information about your Total cholesterol number, your LDL (bad cholesterol) number, your HDL (good cholesterol) number and your triglycerides number. Triglycerides are another form of fat in your bloodstream.
The HDL cholesterol is the kind that you want to be high, because it protects your heart and the LDL cholesterol is the number that you want to be low as a high number of this type of cholesterol is what elevates your heart disease risk factor.
A commonly asked question people want answered when the “cholesterol discussion” is brought up is, what things in my life has an affect on whether my cholesterol levels go up or down?
There are three things that can affect your cholesterol level that you have some control over and there are two things that affect your cholesterol level that you absolutely have no control over.
We have control over our diet (what we eat), our weight (if it is optimal or if we are overweight), and our physical activity level (whether we exercise enough).
The things that affect our cholesterol that we have no control over are our age and our gender (male or female), and our heredity (genetics). Having high cholesterol, like other conditions and diseases, can run in families.
If an individual knows that they have the two risk factors for heart disease (age, gender and family history for high cholesterol) than they can be more careful regarding those conditions for high cholesterol that they can control; making sure that they lower their risk when they can. The first step in taking control over your cholesterol levels is to know what they are. Now that you know what has an affect on your cholesterol levels, ask your doctor to have your cholesterol levels checked as soon as possible.
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