Factors That Put You At A Higher Risk For High Cholesterol

There are certain lifestyle habits that put individuals at a higher risk for developing high LDL cholesterol. These risk factors include smoking, consuming alcohol, leading an inactive lifestyle, being under a high level of stress, poor eating habits, gaining more weight than is healthy for your age or body frame, having a family history of high cholesterol, consuming an excessive amount of vitamin D, and also taking anabolic steroids or corticosteroids.

Smoking carries with it many health risks including that of increasing your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) level. Smoking not only increases the LDL, when to be healthy we need to decrease it, smoking also decreases the HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) in your blood, when to be healthy we want this level to be high. When an individual smokes, they raise the level of carbon monoxide in the blood, which then can cause injury to the lining of the arterial wall. This damage can cause a narrowing of the arterial wall when LDL cholesterol builds up in the artery due to high LDL cholesterol. Smoking makes this build-up more likely to happen which increases your risk for both heart disease and stroke.

Alcohol consumption also puts an individual at an increased risk for many health related conditions and diseases including increasing your risk for high cholesterol. Drinking alcohol increases your liver's ability to detoxify the blood, which can cause harm to your blood vessels. Your liver has to do double-duty as it cleanses your liver of the alcohol and tries to rid the liver of too much LDL cholesterol. It has difficulty doing this double-duty and too much LDL cholesterol can as a result be left in the bloodstream to collect in the arteries leading to our heart and brain which in turn increases the plaque in these arteries which leads to blood clots disengaging from these clogged arteries which when they break out and occur in the heart cause heart blockage and damaged cardiac cells leading to a heart attack and possible death. The same damage can occur in the arteries leading to the brain can cause stroke.

When individuals remain inactive for long periods of time, they do not experience the exercise that can raise the heart rate for 20 to 30 minutes a day resulting in an increase in the HDL cholesterol level (the good cholesterol). We want the HDL cholesterol to be high as the HDL is what helps to remove plaque from our arteries and help to decrease the level of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) in our blood. Regular exercise can also aid in weight loss and if you are obese (another risk factor for high LDL cholesterol) it increases your heart disease and stroke risk factors.

It is easy to increase your activity level simply by taking the dog for a walk, or doing simple household chores for at least a continual 20 to 30 minutes each day.

Excessive amounts of emotional or mental stress can lead to major health problems including unhealthy cholesterol levels. The ways to manage stress can also reduce your other risk factors for high cholesterol such as being overweight, or having a sedentary lifestyle because one of the most common ways to reduce stress is to exercise. Exercising gets your body moving and your mind off of problems and focused on the things you encounter as you exercise especially if you exercise outdoor in nature. Biking, jogging, swimming and walking are all good exercise choices as well as any aerobic exercise program that will raise your heart rate for at least 20 to 30 minutes each day.

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