Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with an estimated 598,607 deaths being attributed to the disease in 2009 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the leading contributors to heart disease is high cholesterol levels, more specifically high "bad" LDL cholesterol levels. One way to help combat your high numbers is through exercise.
Exercise and HDL Cholesterol
When you make exercise a habit, you can start to see the compounding benefits of physical activity. One of these benefits is the increase of HDL cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. HDL cholesterol is responsible for scavenging for "bad" LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream. The HDL cholesterol attaches to LDL cholesterol and acts as a vehicle to transport LDL cholesterol to the liver. Your liver then breaks the LDL cholesterol down and helps eliminate it from the body. As such, the more HDL cholesterol you have, the better chances you can lower your LDL cholesterol levels.
HDL Cholesterol Recommendations
When using exercise to lower your cholesterol levels, it's important to keep in mind the ultimate goal for healthy cholesterol. The National Institutes of Health recommend keeping your HDL cholesterol levels above 60 mg/dl. Any number below 40 mg/dL increases your risk for heart disease, including your risks for a heart attack. You will know if exercise is contributing to your lower LDL cholesterol levels as your total cholesterol number and your LDL cholesterol numbers drop. Exercise should get you closer to the recommended 200 mg/dL or less for total cholesterol, or the 150 mg/dL or less for LDL cholesterol.
Weight Heart Benefits
Along with lowering your LDL cholesterol, exercise can also have beneficial heart effects by burning away extra fat to create weight loss. Obesity is one of the main contributors to heart disease. The more excess fat you carry on your body, the harder your heart has to work to supply blood to all the extra fat cells. This can add additional stress on your heart and increases your blood pressure. Too high of blood pressure over time can damage your cardiovascular system, leading to heart disease. Exercise also lowers your blood pressure by strengthening the heart muscle, allowing it to perform the same amount of work more effectively with less pressure.
Other Ways to Lower LDL Cholesterol
Along with exercise, you can lower your LDL cholesterol through changing other habits in your life, especially your diet. Lower your dietary cholesterol intake by reducing consumption of foods high in cholesterol and saturated fat, such as fatty cuts of meat and full-fat dairy products. Limit your calorie intake from saturated fat to no more than 7 percent, and cap your cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg per day, suggests the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Deaths - Preliminary Data for 2009
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need To Know
- University of New Mexico; A Review of the Impact of Exercise on Cholesterol Levels; Chantal A. Vella, Len Kravitz, Ph.D., and Jeffrey M. Janot
- National Institutes of Health - MedlinePlus: HDL test
- MayoClinic.com: HDL Cholesterol - How to Boost Your Good Cholesterol.
