If you have high cholesterol or other risk factors for heart disease, your doctor likely advised you to increase your physical activity as part of your treatment plan. She may have even specifically recommended that you start walking. This is because walking is a convenient way to get the cholesterol-lowering benefits of regular exercise without needing special equipment, gym memberships or skills.
Significance
In many people, high cholesterol is preventable and reversible, according to the American Heart Association. When total cholesterol levels exceed 150 mg/dL, your chance of having a stroke or heart attack increases. Even if you don't have a stroke or heart attack, high cholesterol still damages your body. It hardens your arteries and makes your heart have to work harder to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your cells, according to the National Institutes of Health. Exercise is one of the lifestyle changes that can lower your total cholesterol levels.
Direct Benefits
Exercises like walking benefit your total cholesterol level in two distinct ways. First, exercise helps manage two risk factors for high cholesterol: obesity and inactivity. A regular exercise program is part of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and people who exercise are less likely to have high cholesterol, according to the American Heart Association. Second, exercise lowers your bad cholesterol and high triglyceride levels while increasing your good cholesterol level.
Indirect Benefits
The Association of American Family Physicians reports that aside from lowering your total cholesterol, exercises like walking also help lower blood pressure and blood sugar which, with high cholesterol, contribute to heart disease. Walking provides a fresh supply of oxygen and blood to your tissues and helps eliminate toxins, both of which keep your body systems in proper working order. When your systems are at peak performance, your body can more effectively manage your cholesterol. The more fit you are, the stronger your heart is, meaning it is less quickly affected by the additional strain that high cholesterol puts on it.
Equipment
Walking is so widely recommended and so popular among people trying to prevent or manage heart disease because it's low impact and requires no special equipment or gym exercises. It's an activity you've likely been doing since you were a toddler, so it requires no special skills or advanced levels of strength. As long as you have supportive shoes, you can take to your neighborhood, a park, a treadmill or even walk in place using an indoor walking routine.
Frequency and Duration
The American Heart Association, along with the American College of Sports Medicine, developed guidelines based on years of research for how much exercise you should get. The current guidelines indicate you should walk for at least 30 minutes per day, five days per week. These guidelines apply to walking and all other forms of physical activity. If you can't get in 30 minutes at once, the American Heart Association indicates that you can perform your exercise in two or three short bursts.
