By now, you've probably heard that having high cholesterol is disastrous to your health. Cholesterol is a type of lipid, or fat, that is produced by your liver. Its purpose is to produce vitamin D, cell walls, and it also helps your body digest fat. So why is it bad for your health? In actuality, it is low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) that is bad for your health. That's true since it clogs the blood vessels and can trigger cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is good for your health; it's good because it binds to extra fat and carries it back to the liver. Therefore, exercise is extremely important to having a healthy cholesterol level, because it both lowers levels of LDL cholesterol while boosting levels of HDL cholesterol.
How Does Exercise Lower LDL?
Researchers who study cholesterol have conducted many studies that attest to how exercise lowers cholesterol. In particular, they have measured the cholesterol levels of patients who engaged in rigorous exercise for at least three months, and they have found that the HDL cholesterol is higher while the LDL level is lower. Equally important is that exercise greatly strengthens the heart, which counteracts the clogging effects of LDL cholesterol on the blood vessels. Exercise raises HDL cholesterol by increasing metabolism, which causes the liver to produce more HDL. Researchers have also found that the HDL cholesterol binds itself to LDL cholesterol, transporting it back to the liver as it does with other fats.
Types of Exericse That Lower Cholesterol
There is no single type of exercise that lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL cholesterol. Rather, you can improve your cholesterol by engaging in rigorous exercise for at least 30 minutes. Aerobic exercise that greatly raises your heart rate is thought to be the most helpful: swimming, running, cycling, and even brisk walking. The number of days you need to exercise per week to lower your cholesterol depends on the rigor of your exercise--for instance, if you walk rather than run, you should exercise six days per week (if you are still exercising for 30 minutes). If you run instead of walk, you should exercise for at least four days for 30 minutes. To lower your cholesterol, you can make your exercise as flexible so long as you sustain a rapid heart rate for at least 20 minutes (with a warm up and cool down period as well).
