Food contains lipids, or fats, which circulate through the body after being digested. According to the American Heart Association, lipids known as cholesterol enter the blood where they remain undissolved and clog or harden blood vessels. Blocked blood vessels can lead to cardiac emergencies, including heart attack and stroke. Medication can treat this condition, but the best treatment is lifestyle change. A low-fat diet will naturally lower your cholesterol. The AHA has endorsed research showing that physical activity not only improves your health, but reduces the overall level of blood cholesterol. Before starting any exercise program, talk to your doctor.
Walking, Jogging and Running
The American Heart Association writes that simple, but regular, physical activity can combat cardiac events. Moderately intense activities, including a brisk walk or jog, are just enough to exercise the heart muscle and improve cardiovascular conditions. The AHA's review of studies on the topic show that regular physical activity can improve both physical fitness and performance. These movement activities can control blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol levels, as well as build stamina.
Stair Climbing
Elevators and escalators make getting around easier, but taking the stairs can control cholesterol levels. The Canadian Stair Climbing Association, the nation's governing body for competitive stair racing, calls it an aerobic exercise. "Stair climbing becomes an aerobic event after about 10 to 20 flights of stairs as it strains your aerobic capacity to hold an intense load on the cardio-vascular package to the top of a very tall building."
American Council on Exercise Recommended Program
The American Council on Exercise endorses physical activity as a cholesterol fighting treatment. An article written by Ralph La Forge, an exercise physiologist at Duke University Medical Center, suggests simply walking 20 minutes per day, four days per week can have a positive effect. La Forge also suggests an alternative program the diversifies exercise sources. The program includes a 50 to 60 minute walk three days a week combined with an aerobics class on three days. He suggests playing tennis or undertaking another aerobic activity on the seventh day.
The program is a suggestion, but not a rule, as long as there is diverse, regular aerobic activity. La Forge writes, "It is important to know that lower volumes of weekly exercise can still produce many other benefits, such as improved fitness and overall health."
Weight Training
While most of the attention focuses on aerobic activity to reduce cholesterol, resistance, or weight, training also has a proven benefit. The pioneering study on this topic was conducted at Old Dominion University and published in a 1999 issue of the "British Journal of Sports Medicine." The study put the test group through 45 to 50 minutes of weight training, three days a week, for 14 weeks. The result was a definitive decrease in total and bad cholesterol, as well as an increase in the good-to-bad cholesterol ratio, compared to a sedentary control group.
References
- American Heart Association: Good vs. Bad Cholesterol
- American Hearth Association: Statement on Physical Activity
- Canadian Stair Climbing Association: An In Depth Look at the Stair Climbing Culture
- American Council on Exercise: Managing Cholesterol with Exercise
- "British Journal of Sports Medicine"; Effect of 14 weeks of resistance training on lipid profile and body fat percentage in premenopausal women.
