Exercise and Cholesterol - Is There Really an Exercise to Lower Cholesterol?

Exercise and cholesterol are closely related, if you want to have a balanced normal cholesterol level, that is.

Before we go deeper into the subject of exercise and its role in controlling cholesterol level in your body, let's make sure that you understand one very important point: exercise doesn't lower your cholesterol levels.

Many people believe that exercise can actually be lowering your LDL (bad cholesterol) count if you do it periodically or hard enough. This is not true at all.

The truth is, proper exercise induce your body to produce more HDL (good cholesterol), thus raising its concentration in your blood. This in turn will improve your LDL to HDL ratio to reach a healthy level.

Just for the record, the maximum LDL to HDL ratio should be 4.4:1. Periodic exercise done in the right way will help you keep your ratio lower than this threshold.

If you don't know what your ratio is, do a simple calculation by dividing your LDL number with your HDL number. If the result is a number bigger than 4.4, then there are two possibilities:

If your LDL reading is higher that 100 mg/dL, then you need to change your diet by eating more natural fibres such as vegetables, fruits, whole wheat bread, etc. You also need to stop consumption of saturated fat and trans fat foods (meats, poultry, fat, dairy products, canned food).

You also have to exercise to bring up your HDL measurement, so you can lower LDL and increase HDL at the same time.

If your LDL reading is lower than 100 mg/dL, then you need to exercise more and eat more fish to raise your HDL.

You may not need to reduce intake of saturated fat and trans fat foods as mentioned above, but you have to closely monitor your cholesterol levels with a test every 6 months or so in a certified clinic or hospital.

That being said, now let's get into the details of what kind of exercise should be done to increase your HDL.

Any kind of exercise will do, but the most recommended ones are aerobic kind of sports (running, walking, aerobic dance, etc). These kinds of exercise will not only increase HDL, but also have good cardiovascular effect, because when you do them, the arteries and muscles of your heart become strained because they are working overtime.

If you do exercise regularly, your body will then adapt to this regular strain by building new blood vessels and strengthen the heart muscles. Essentially, by exercising you're making your heart younger and healthier, thus reducing your chance of heart disease.

There are certain guidelines you have to follow in doing your exercise to gain optimal benefit from it:

The exercise you do must bring your heart rate to your target heart rate, and keep it there for about 20 minutes.

Your target heart rate is (220 - your age) x 0.7. So, if your 40, your target heart rate is (220 - 40) x 0.7 = 126 heart beats per minute. If a specific kind of exercise can not increase your heart rate to reach the target heart rate, then maybe the intensity is too low for you. In such case, you might want to switch to a heavier exercise.

The exercise you do must be at leat 30 minutes long per session.

You should be able to the exercise at least once every week. Daily exercise is recommended, but weekly schedule is a minimum to have impact on your cholesterol level.

Do not take any drugs to improve your performance in the exercise. Stay away from steroids or other medicine of the like. They can only bring harm to your body. Remember, You're exercising for your health, not for the world title.

As a closing note, let me tell you my story of how I battled high cholesterol... and win!

In 2008, I reduced my cholesterol from 376 mg/dL to 121 mg/dL in only 2 short months. This is better than ideal!

The truth: what kind of vegetables, fruits, vitamins and supplements I took was the most important key in my success. Eat the wrong kind of them, and you won't be reducing your cholesterol levels at all.

To find out exactly what kind of diets will produce my kind of result, check out the guidelines on this website: good-cholesterol-foods.net Good Cholesterol Foods. On this site you will also find a free booklet on cholesterol management and a cholesterol chart to help tracking your cholesterol level progress.

Do not wait.. you can start reducing your cholesterol level today with the same treatment I took. Act Now! Visit the website mentioned above and find out how you can copy my method to reduce your total cholesterol by as much as 255 points naturally. You'll find valuable information in that website.