Causes Of Cholesterol

It was said previously that cholesterol can only adhere to the inner lining of the artery if it has been damaged. How does that harm come about? Evidence points to free radical damage as being one of the causes of arterial wall damage. Free radicals are found all around us. They are highly reactive substances like polluted air, radiation, tobacco smoke, herbicides, and also naturally within our own bodies as an offshoot of common metabolic processes.

Free radicals attack and harm cells altering ordinary cell activity. You see it surrounding you each day causing metal to rust and fruit to go bad. This is why we take anti-oxidants like vitamins c, e, beta-carotene and selenium, to counter the attack of free radicals.

Heredity additionally plays a part in high cholesterol. Your genes can influence your ldl by affecting how rapid it is made and removed from your blood. There is one specific form of inherited high cholesterol that will frequently lead to premature heart disease. It is called familial hypercholesterolemia and can play a part in 1 of 500 people.

Weight is furthermore a aspect in determining your ldl. If you have a high ldl level and are overweight, shedding those pounds may help you to lower it. Also, losing weight also helps to lower triglycerides and elevate your hdl.

Age and gender should be considered as well. Women, pre menopause, for the most part have total cholesterol levels that are lower then men. This changes as men and women grow older. Levels will climb until reaching age 60 to 65. For women, menopause can cause an increase in ldl and a decline in hdl. After the age of 50 women frequently have higher total cholesterol levels than men of the same age.

Alcohol also plays an abnormal role in cholesterol levels. It increases hdl however at the same time it does not lower ldl. The medical community does not know for sure whether alcohol can reduce the chance of heart disease. We know that too much alcohol can damage the liver and heart muscles leading to high blood pressure and raised triglycerides. There are just too many additional risks to even contemplate the use of alcoholic beverages used as a way to defend against heart disease just because it increased the hdl.

Stress and personality may contribute to heart disease. Associating a certain group of personality and heart disease has been suggested for many years. This goes back to the type a and type b personality study performed in the year 1959. Type a behavior for the most part manifests in a chronic awareness of time, urgency, aggressiveness and also striving for fulfilment. Type a people will propel themselves to meet exact deadlines which are most frequently self-imposed. They possess feelings of being always under pressure and also frequently multi-task to the point of doing two or three things at one time. To say that type a persons are driven is an understatement. They consider themselves indispensable. Every one of these traits add up to a state of constant hassle.

Over a lenghty period, stress has shown to elevate blood cholesterol levels. The way it does this is by affecting habits. An instance is over indulging in fatty foods as a way of consoling themselves when people are under stress. The saturated fat and cholesterol in these foods contribute to high levels of blood cholesterol. Type b behavior is characterized by just the opposite set of traits. Type b people are less preoccupied with achievement, less rushed and for the most part more easygoing people. They do not allow themselves to be rushed or have any specific pressure in or with regard to deadlines. They are less prone to angry outbursts and also seem to be better equipped to making distinctions among work and play. Studies completed over a period of eighteen months to two years with a group of both type a and type b people, indicated that type a participants had a 31 % increased chance of developing heart disease. This was further substantiated by the finding of more deposits of plaque in the coronary arteries of type a people. Type a behavior as well appears to display an association with other risk factors like smoking, higher fat levels, increased secretion of adrenaline. All of which increases the oxygen demand of the heart muscles and releasing fatty acids from the body fat.

It is essential to note that there are not only two different types of people. Each person is an individual and putting them into limited categories will not properly classify them.