Signs & Symptoms Of High Cholesterol
When we hear about maintaining or improving healthy body weight, we come across the word cholesterol a lot of times.
When we hear about maintaining or improving healthy body weight, we come across the word cholesterol a lot of times.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance in the body made in the liver. You also get it from the foods you eat. The body uses it to make certain hormones and cell tissues.
It also helps generate the energy that you need for various activities. Health and fitness experts recommend that if you want to maintain your body weight, you should eat equal numbers of cholesterol to the ones you burn, and if you want to lose weight, you should eat less than you burn.
However, that depends on your daily activities and your health status. It is possible to have less cholesterol and is also possible to have too much. Having too much cholesterol in your body is dangerous to your health because that could lead to fatty deposits on the walls of your blood vessels. Eventually, that makes it hard for blood to pass through the small spaces, and that could lead to heart diseases and stroke.
The American Heart Association recommends that you get your blood cholesterol levels checked after every six years if you are over 20 years old. The doctor uses a lipoprotein panel, which is a blood test or lipid profile, to determine your cholesterol level.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the tests are supposed to determine certain things.
Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL)
Also called the bad cholesterol, Low-Density Lipoprotein carries cholesterol to your arteries. If you have too much LDL in your blood, it could clog the walls of your arteries, also called cholesterol plaque. That limits blood flow and increases your chances of getting blood clots.
To be in the best health and have lower chances of heart disease, your LDL levels should not be over 130.
High-density Lipoprotein (HDL)
Also called good cholesterol, it helps return LDL to the liver for its elimination. That reduces the chances of cholesterol plaque in your arteries and reduces the chances of stroke and heart diseases.
You should have a level of over 60 HDL to be in the best health.
Triglycerides
These are different types of lipid from cholesterol. While the body needs cholesterol to build certain hormones and cells, it needs triglycerides to generate energy.
If you consume a lot of cholesterol than your body needs immediately, it turns the extra ones to triglycerides and stores them in the fat cells.
The higher the levels of triglycerides in your body, the higher your chances of having heart diseases and other non-communicable diseases like obesity and diabetes. For optimal health, you should have at most 150 milligrams of triglycerides per deciliter.
Total cholesterol levels show the combination of all three types, and doctors recommend that the level that indicates optimum health is 240 milligrams per deciliter.
If you do not want to wait a long for the results from the doctor’s office, you could a cholesterol home test kit to check your cholesterol levels. It involves you pricking your finger and placing a drop on a test kit.
While it may show your cholesterol levels and risk of getting heart diseases, it does not accurately show the different types of cholesterol and their level. Therefore, this is only good if you had your cholesterol level checked by the doctor before because it helps you keep them in check.
Diet - This is one of the main contributing factors to high levels of cholesterol. Eating trans fats, saturated fats, and other foods high in cholesterol increases your chances of getting high cholesterol levels.
• Genetics - You may inherit genes from your parents that tell your body how to deal with cholesterol and fats. If they have high cholesterol, you have higher chances of having it too.
• Familial hypercholesterolemia - This is a genetic disorder that keeps your body from expelling LDL.
Some risk factors could increase your chances of having high cholesterol level, including;
• Lack of physical activities.
• Health conditions like diabetes and obesity.
• Age. Older people have a higher risk of having high cholesterol levels.
• Medications like anabolic steroids and progestins increase LDL levels and reduce HDL.
• Gender- Females have lower LDL levels until they hit menopause, and males have lower HDL levels at age.
• Smoking.
There are no obvious signs that directly point to having high cholesterol levels. However, it does cause health issues like strokes, heart attacks, and high blood pressure.
These issues only show up when the cholesterol in your blood has resulted in the formation of cholesterol plaque in your arteries. The only way to tell if you have high cholesterol levels is by taking a blood test.
• Have a healthy diet- Avoid foods rich in saturated and trans fats. Saturated fats solidify at room temperature, and they come from foods like butter, eggs, beef, pork, cheese, ice cream, and coconut oil. You get trans fats from foods like margarine, processed foods, and baked foods.
Instead, replace these with unsaturated fats that are liquid even at room temperature. You can get them from avocados, vegetable oils, and nuts. You should also eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and drink a lot of water.
You should also increase your Omega-3 fatty acids intake and whole meals as well as minimize taking sugary foods and beverages.
• Exercise- Exercising helps you burn all the excess calories stored as fats. You can choose to start with low-intensity exercises before going to the difficult ones to avoid injuries.
• Quit smoking- Smoking reduces your HDL levels and increases LDL.
• Reduce your alcohol intake- Alcohol increases your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
If not properly taken care of and treated, high cholesterol levels may cause some conditions attributed to the cholesterol plaque in the arteries.
These complications include;
• Heart attack.
• Stroke.
• High blood pressure.
• Angina (chest pain).
• Chronic kidney disease.
• Peripheral vascular disease.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional consultation or advice related to your health or finances. No reference to an identifiable individual or company is intended as an endorsement thereof. Some or all of this article may have been generated using artificial intelligence, and it may contain certain inaccuracies or unreliable information. Readers should not rely on this article for information and should consult with professionals for personal advice.