Exercises To Help Lower Cholesterol

June 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
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You have probably heard that exercise can help keep your cholesterol at a healthy level. But what kind of exercise? For how long, and how often? And how much of an impact can you really expect exercise to have on cholesterol levels?  If you are exercising the right way, the answer to that last question can be “a lot”.  Regular exercise affects your cholesterol and triglycerides in 2 main ways.

1. Exercise helps lower triglycerides, which at high levels are linked to coronary artery disease.
2. Exercise also raises your levels of HDL, or the “good” cholesterol.

Unfortunately, it does not look like exercise can lower your LDL (or “bad” cholesterol) levels unless by exercising you also lose a significant amount of weight. Still, lower triglycerides and higher HDL levels are both important to heart health, so what kind of exercise should you pursue to achieve these goals?

Mix It Up: A Variety of Exercises Help Control Cholesterol.  The type of exercise you do is less important for cholesterol control than how often and how regularly you do it. Doctors used to believe it was only aerobic, endurance exercise that improved levels, but it turned out that we were wrong. A number of studies on resistance training have shown very powerful effects on cholesterol metabolism. Especially if you do moderate strength training at high frequency – circuit training with 10 reps each cycle and three cycles of each circuit – you can get very nice improvements in your triglycerides and HDL. Experts recommend a combination of 3 forms of exercise to get the most health benefit.

1. Aerobics to get your heart rate up
2. Strength training to build muscle
3. Flexibility exercises like stretching to keep you limber

So don’t be too concerned about whether you are walking or running, swimming or biking, lifting free weights or using weight machines. It is all exercise, and it is all good for your heart.

To Get Cholesterol Benefits, Just Do It:  Whatever type of exercise you are doing, you may believe you need to “feel the burn” to reap real benefits. That may be so for certain fitness goals, but it has nothing to do with improving cholesterol and triglycerides.  Fitness professionals often use the word “FIT” to summarize the 3 key components of exercise: Frequency, Intensity, and Time/Duration. For cholesterol health, it turns out that the F and the T – the frequency and the amount of time spent exercising – are the important elements. The I – for intensity – isn’t nearly as important.

While increased intensity can improve your cardiovascular performance, it also has a down side. Particularly for middle-aged and older adults, it puts you at greater risk of injury. So for most people, expert recommend moderate intensity activity of significant duration. What does that mean?  Do at least half an hour of exercise, 5 to 6 days a week, if you are really looking for the greatest benefit.  It is much better to do moderate intensity for 30 to 45 minutes than clutch the handle on the treadmill and get your heart rate up into the red zone for 5 or 10 minutes.  It is really a myth that you have to get your heart rate up to benefit from exercise. You just have to do it. When you climb on the elliptical trainer, set the resistance for 3 and the time for 45 minutes.  You may not be sweating as much as the guy next to you, but your cholesterol and triglycerides will be responding just as much as if you were climbing hills.   And, remember, exercise offers your body many more benefits than just cholesterol control.  The effect of exercise on cholesterol is important, but the overall effects are more important. You are getting many other cardiovascular benefits: lowering your blood pressure, improving diabetes, and reducing your risk of heart attack and stroke. Exercise is really the right elixir.

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  • Why Cholesterol Readings Matter

    As we grow older, we experience a lot of body pain that we wouldn’t even imagine being there before. Knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain and foot pain are just some of the different kinds of pains that we experience as we become older. This pain can be greatly reduced however if we are to do something about our cholesterol levels.

    And the first step in doing that is to get the right information by getting cholesterol readings. Now, cholesterol readings are done by calculating the total amount of high density and low density lipoproteins in the body.

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    High Cholesterol Readings

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    For elderly people having high cholesterol problems, it’s imperative that you talk to your doctor about the situation. A high cholesterol level can easily cause heart problems, high blood pressure, knee pain, migraines and an assortment of other illnesses. So don’t be afraid to get the necessary tests. All it takes is a simple blood sample to determine your body’s condition in relation to cholesterol.

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