What Is High Cholesterol? A Look At Various Risk Factors And How To Deal With Them

Maybe you are wondering what is high cholesterol and what are the factors that increase my risk of dealing with it? Levels of cholesterol are considered to be high when your total level goes over 200, and there are risk factors that may contribute to this problem. While some of the factors cannot be changed by you, there are others that you can change to help reduce the risk of dealing with this health problem.

Risk Factors - The Ones You Cannot Change

There are a variety of different risk factors out there, such as gender, age, and heredity that can increase your risk of having high cholesterol. Families often see this problem from generation to generation and the condition is called familial hypercholesterolemia, which usually causes you to have high low density lipoprotein, which is the bad level. These levels can get high even when you are young, and this is something that you cannot change.

Now that you know what is high cholesterol, another factor of risk you cannot change is your gender. Usually men in their younger years have lower levels of the high density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is the good, but the bad levels can rise as men get older. Once women get over the age of 55, they often start seeing higher levels of the bad type of cholesterol as well.

Risk Factors - The Ones You CAN Change

While some of the risk factors for high cholesterol cannot be changed, there are quite a few that you can change to lower your risk for this problem. First, the foods that you eat can be a risk, and this is definitely something that you can change. Diets that are high in saturated fats usually increase levels of bad cholesterol. Some of the foods that contain saturated fats include meat, cheeses, and egg yolks, among others. Eliminate high saturated fat foods from your diet and you can lower your risk.

Weight is a big risk as well. Your LDL levels can increase if you are overweight or obese. Not exercising is another risk for your health. When you begin exercising, you get rid of this risk factor and you usually can raise HDL levels and lower the bad LDL levels effectively. In fact, many people who lose weight and exercise find that they can avoid going on statins.

High blood pressure can be another problem that can lead to high cholesterol levels. When you have high blood pressure and you have it with high levels of bad LDL, this increases the risk of having a stroke or heart attack. Lowering your blood pressure can help. Smoking also is known to decrease the good levels of cholesterol, so if you want to eliminate this risk factor, stop smoking.

What is high cholesterol? This is a medical problem that occurs when you have high levels of total cholesterol or high LDL levels. It is definitely important that you take measures to lower your levels to a healthy level so you can avoid dangerous medical problems. No, you cannot get rid of all the health risks, but there are plenty of risk factors that you can control, helping you to get your levels of cholesterol down to an area that is healthy.

And, it is critical that you are fully naturalcholesteroltreatment.net aware of high cholesterol, the risks, and helpful ways that you can reduce your levels. For highly useful information and great natural remedies that can help, visit naturalcholesteroltreatment.net naturalcholesteroltreatment.net now.

From Rajagopalan, A strong advocate of natural healthy living.