Seventy-five percent of the necessary cholesterol in your blood is produced by your liver, and the other 25 percent comes from the food you eat, according to the American Heart Association. Having higher amounts of blood cholesterol than this can have negative health effects, such as heart disease and high blood pressure. There are some specific activities that contribute to the development of higher cholesterol levels, and these activity should be avoided or reduced to curb your risk.
Being Sedentary
Living a lifestyle that does not include much activity can contribute to higher blood cholesterol levels. If you spend the majority of your time engagement in very little movement doing things such as sitting at a desk, watching television or playing videos games, you are likely to be increasing your risk for high cholesterol. Medical News Today website says that being sedentary will cause your LDL cholesterol or bad cholesterol to be significantly higher and your good cholesterol or HDL cholesterol to be lower than it would be if you were more active.
Eating the Wrong Fats
Eating a diet that contains a significant amount of unhealthy fats can cause your cholesterol levels to increase. Diets high in saturated fats and especially trans fats will cause your cholesterol levels to go up. Trans fats are especially unhealthy and contribute to significant increases in cholesterol levels. Trans fats are commonly used as a preservative in fast foods and junk foods. Therefore, to avoid higher cholesterol levels, it is important to eliminate trans fats from your diet as much as possible and minimize your intake of saturated fats replacing it with healthy unsaturated fats.
Smoking
Being in the habit of smoking can raise your bad cholesterol levels by decreasing your good cholesterol. Smoking or being regularly exposed to secondhand smoke will reduce your HDL cholesterol levels. With your HDL cholesterol levels reduced, your LDL cholesterol levels are free to continue to build up in your blood, and your cholesterol levels will rise.
Allowing Unnecessary Weight Gain
Allowing yourself to gain weight and not taking steps to prevent unnecessary weight gain can lead to higher cholesterol levels. When you are overweight, your blood cholesterol levels are much more likely to be high. Therefore, engaging in activities that contribute to weight gain, such as lack of exercise and eating an unhealthy diet, can cause high cholesterol levels.
Drinking Alcohol
Although drinking moderate amounts of alcohol has been shown to increase good cholesterol levels when you drink more than moderate amounts, it can have the reverse effect. Moderate drinking is limited to one drink a day for women and two for men. Drinking more than this can negatively affect your cholesterol levels.
