Many people ignore the fact that regular exercise and a healthy diet play an important role in living a healthy lifestyle. The greatest benefit of regular exercise and a healthy diet is its ability to improve your body’s immune system to fight diseases and other conditions like heart disease and high cholesterol levels.
If you are diagnosed with high cholesterol levels, your doctor will mention exercise as part of reducing the numbers, often alongside a prescription. Besides exercising, improving your diet is one of the best and most effective lifestyle changes that can naturally bring down your cholesterol level.
Why exercise is important at lowering cholesterol level
Cholesterols are fatty substances that circulate naturally in our bloodstream. They are essential for the production of certain hormones and cell walls. However, if you have too much cholesterol, it can narrow your arteries by sticking on the walls, increasing the risks of getting cardiovascular diseases. Exercise helps the body by increasing levels of high-density lipoproteins, which prevents the build-up of cholesterol. Also, exercise may change how our cholesterol looks by improving the size and number of cholesterol particles in the blood. People who exercise more have larger particles which are less likely to clog arteries.
It doesn’t matter if you are overweight or not – exercise can still help lower your cholesterol levels. Obese and overweight individuals who jog, walk or cycle while eating a healthy and low cholesterol diet improve their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.
Healthy diet to lower cholesterol levels
Changing the way you eat can reduce the number and size of fat particles floating in your bloodstream. The addition of food that lowers low-density lipoprotein and harmful cholesterol-carrying particles responsible for artery-clogging is the best approach to have a healthy low cholesterol diet.
Different food and diets help to lower cholesterol in different ways. Some food will provide soluble fibers responsible for binding and grabbing cholesterol particles from the digestion system before getting into the blood circulation system. Other food substances deliver monounsaturated fats, which will directly lower low-density lipoproteins, according to a study. Some of the food you need to add to your diet to lower your cholesterol levels include:
- Oats
- Fatty fish
- Soy
- Fiber supplements
- Liquid vegetable oils
- Beans
- Eggplant and okra
It is possible to know the importance of exercise, but did you know lack of exercise is among the leading cause of developing heart disease? The risk factor of heart diseases revolves around obesity, higher cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and inactivity. It is recommended to have 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week, but it’s important to talk to your doctor before starting a new workout program.
Diet plays an essential part in heart health and can impact heart attack risks. Certain foods can control triglycerides, blood pressure, and cholesterol level, which are risk factors for heart problems like a heart attack. The below foods are important in cutting down the risks of heath attacks.
- Green vegetables
- Whole grains
- Avocados
- Fatty fish and fish oils
- Garlic
Benefits of exercise in reducing heart problems
Similar to other body muscles, the heart is a muscle that requires regular exercise to keep it strong and toned. A strong heart has a lower heart rate to pump the same blood, which reduces the risk of heart attacks. Cardiovascular exercise plays a vital role in improving blood circulation, which reduces clotting in the arteries, minimizing the chances of a heart attack.
Some of the exercises you can use to cut down cholesterol and heart attack include:
- Moderate-intensity exercises
- Biking
- Walking
- Gardening
- Water aerobics
- Casual dancing
- Vigorous-intensity exercises
- Running or jogging
- Playing outdoor games like football, tennis or basketball
- Swimming
- Uphill hiking
- Aerobic dancing
Exercise will help reduce the risks of diabetes and high blood pressure, which are the number one causes of a heart attack. People who exercise regularly can also manage stress which is also known to cause heart-related problems, including heart attack.
