What You Should Know About Your Cholesterol Level

Getting your cholesterol checked every five years or so is always a good decision. It is very important that you know what your cholesterol level is because it can mean a lot for your health. So much can be found out just by reading one’s level, as it can mean a person is in good health or that person could be at risk for heart disease and other problems. By knowing what your cholesterol level is, you will get a better idea of what you have to do in order to remain healthy.

While it is good to know what the level is, you may not understand what you need to do after you find out. For instance, if your cholesterol level is high (and it is the bad cholesterol), then what will you need to do to bring it down? Your doctor will surely tell you, but perhaps you could use a reference.

Different Blood (Or Serum) Cholesterol Levels And What They Mean

Less than 200 mg/dL: Desirable
By having a cholesterol level that is around this level, it means that you are at a low risk to receive some sort of heart disease in the future. This obviously does not mean that you can get heart disease in the future; you have to live a healthy life to further prevent heart disease. In order to continue keeping a good cholesterol level, you must eat a healthy diet for your heart, get plenty of physical activity, and avoid tobacco smoke.

200-239 mg/dL: Borderline – High Risk
When your cholesterol level is this high, you will need to come up with a plan with your doctor in order to lower it. These levels can still be reached, even if you have normal levels of bad cholesterol (with high levels of good cholesterol). If you come up with a plan, you must stick to it in order to bring down your cholesterol level. Depending on your situation, you may need medication or you may need to be rechecked more often.

240 mg/dL and above: High Risk
By having levels this high, you obviously know that you are a much higher risk to get heart disease than someone who has a desirable level. Work with your doctor to come up with a way to get this lowered, which may or may not include medication. Either way, you may have to change your life around, and that may mean eating healthier, getting more exercise, and avoiding tobacco smoke.

Knowing what each cholesterol level means is important because it can help keep you healthy much longer. By knowing this information before going to a doctor, you will be able to make some changes in your life ahead of time. By doing so, you will feel better about yourself and you will be much healthier.

Tips To Preventing High Cholesterol Levels

Unless you get a blood test that includes your lipid profile you won’t know if you have high cholesterol levels. You can have a variety of complications if you don’t have your cholesterol levels checked including heart disease which can possibly lead to death. The most important way that you can first against high cholesterol levels and heart disease is to prevent them. You can do this by taking a look at your lifestyle and making changes to keep a healthy heart.

Watch Your Weight

Not only does weight gain run the risk of you not fitting into your jeans, but it can also raise your LDL or bad cholesterol levels while lowering your HDL or good cholesterol levels. This is the perfect condition for heart disease to develop. It doesn’t take much weight loss to see improvement in you cholesterol levels, just five to ten percent of your body weight is enough. You can achieve a healthy weight through numerous diets and recipes.

Lifestyle Changes

You can reduce your bad cholesterol levels and raise the good with moderate exercise or about thirty minutes at least five times a week. You don’t have to overdo your exercise, often just a brisk walk will be enough to change your cholesterol levels. You can search the internet for sites that will help you to find the exercise program that is right for you. When it comes to diet you should include a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean sources of protein. You should try to avoid meats, pastries, cookies and snack foods as much as possible.

Medication

There are certain medications that can directly cause a change in your cholesterol levels whether it is good or bad. When you begin taking any new medication be sure to ask your doctor how the drug will affect your cholesterol levels. If the medication has a risk of changing your levels then you may want to discuss an alternative medication with your doctor. If you have not medication alternative then you should make a good plan to monitor your lipid levels very closely.

Smoking

Smoking not only lower the good cholesterol in your system but it also increased oxidized bad cholesterol and accelerates the growth of atherosclerosis, all of these can place individuals at an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Although the sooner you stop smoking the better your chance of being able to reduce your risk of heart disease related to high cholesterol levels. Making lifestyle changes now will benefit your life for years to come.