Saturday, September 5, 2009

Do You Know What Cholesterol Is?

By Kim Bailey

There are many experts discussing cholesterol today however something not always mentioned is that out bodies need cholesterol to function properly. Cholesterol help our bodies build the cell walls that in return help with hormone and bile production. The amount you need however is not much and when the excess starts to build up it causes a great deal of problems for the cardiovascular system in particular.

A Good Thing In Small Amounts

High cholesterol becomes a problem when our bodies are unable to get rid of the excess cholesterol from our body. These excesses of cholesterol stays in our bloodstream and begin to form plaque in our arteries, clogging it and hindering blood flow.

By interfering with the flow of blood through the body, high cholesterol places a strain on the heart by causing it to have to work much harder to keep blood flowing through the body and it is this strain on the heart that increase our risk of heart attack.

It is indeed the strain on the heart that makes it so important that you monitor your cholesterol on a regular basis. Once an individual is diagnosed with high cholesterol he and his doctor can work together using exercise, diet and medication to lower cholesterol to allow the heart to return to normal. Make sure you check your cholesterol levels on a regular basis as early diagnosis leads to early intervention.

Cholesterol Types

The two types of cholesterol in our bodies are LDL and HDL cholesterol. HDL or high density lipoproteins helps to remove cholesterol from our bodies and LDL or low density lipoproteins delivers cholesterol to the body.

Needless to say that a higher HDL will therefore mean lower cholesterol and a healthier cardiovascular system. Experts figure the two numbers together to work out what an overall healthy cholesterol reading is.

This understanding of cholesterol and how it can be both good and bad for your heart is a very important step towards a healthy cardiovascular system. Keeping an eye on your cholesterol levels on a regular basis is a great step towards heart health.

You can talk to your doctor about what good cholesterol levels are and how you can achieve or maintain them.

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