Normal HDL Cholesterol Levels - Important Numbers to Know

How much do you know about your risk of cholesterol related illness? Does a history of heart attack or stroke run in your family? Do you have high blood pressure? Have you had any of the warning signs or heart disease such as shortness of breath or chest pains? Do you smoke? Have you had a heart attack or stroke previously? If you answered yes to any of these knowing what the normal HDL cholesterol levels for your particular set of circumstances is a very important part of avoiding a catastrophic cardiovascular illness in the future.

What is HDL anyway? HDL stands for high density lipoproteins or good cholesterol. X-ray studies have shown that people who are able to raise their HDL levels not only reduce cholesterol in the arteries but also remove plaque. Translation: Above normal to normal HDL cholesterol levels dramatically reduce your chances of artery related disease.

What is a normal HDL cholesterol levels? What is generally considered to be a desirable HDL reading is 60 mg/dl with 40 to 59 mg/dl considered borderline, and anything under 40 considered to downright dangerous. It is also important to point out that good cholesterol tends to decline with age and over half of the people who have heart attacks are over the age of 45 and 80 percent of those who die are over 65. So as you can see as one increases in years ever effort should be made to maintain or exceed the conventional norms.

Does cigarette smoking make a difference? The link between smoking and cholesterol is undeniable but let's face even if you know the risks it may be hard to quit, and many don't succeed on the first try. If you were to ask your doctor about normal HDL cholesterol levels probably one of the questions he would ask you in return was whether you smoke. The reason is not only that smoking hammers down protective good cholesterol to dangerously low levels but perhaps more importantly it accelerates the buildup of cholesterol plaque on damaged blood vessel wall. But the part of this whole discussion on normal HDL levels and smoking that everyone should pay attention to is the inherent risk of secondhand smoke. Most experts agree that inhaling second hand smoke is just as dangerous as the real thing.

Note: The highest risk demographics for heart attack are inactive men over the age of 50 who smoke.

What Next? Lowering cholesterol, in most cases, is about changing old habits, adopting new healthier habits, and enlisting the help of convention medications such as statins or lowered-cholesterol.com natural cholesterol reducing remedies if needed. Put simply, this basically means finding ways to increase HDL (good cholesterol) and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol levels). Certainly the aforementioned statin drugs will be one of your options but they do carry a number of serious label warnings. The side effect risks have made natural cholesterol reduction supplements combined with diet modification an alternative treatment combination worth considering.

Rob D. Hawkins is an enthusiastic advocate for the use of safe and effective high quality alternative health products and natural living, with over 10 years experience in the field. Learn more about natural remedies and natural health at purchaseremedies.com Purchase Remedies.com