You’ve probably heard that high cholesterol isn’t good for you. When your cholesterol stays at unhealthy levels for too long, you’re at a much higher risk of having serious and even life-threatening problems with your blood vessels and heart.
How High Cholesterol Harms Your Health
When your cholesterol, fat, and other substances build up, they create hard plaques in your artery walls. Not only does this begin to block your blood flow to your heart, brain, and the rest of your body, but your arteries themselves become less flexible. This is a disease called atherosclerosis: hardened arteries due to plaque buildup.
If you don’t treat your high cholesterol, these plaques get bigger and thicker. This can lead to different health problems, including:
Blood clots. Pieces of plaque can break off from your artery wall and trigger a blood clot (thrombus) to form. This blood clot blocks your blood flow and leads to a heart attack or stroke.
Coronary heart disease (CHD). Your coronary arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood to your heart. When you get atherosclerosis in these arteries, you get coronary heart disease. Doctors also call it coronary artery disease or ischemic heart disease. When you hear the term “heart disease,” it usually means coronary heart disease.
When you have CHD, your heart doesn’t get enough blood. This makes it weaker and unable to work well. CHD puts you at major risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Stroke. Strokes caused by high cholesterol often start with carotid artery disease. Your carotid arteries carry blood to your brain. Atherosclerosis in these arteries means your brain can’t get enough blood (and therefore enough oxygen) to function well. Your risk of having a mini-stroke, called a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or full stroke goes up.
Peripheral artery disease (PAD). Peripheral arteries are those farther away from the center of your body, in your arms and legs. Plaque buildup in these arteries reduces blood flow to the tissues there. PAD happens most often in your legs and feet. Typically, you don’t feel any symptoms, but it can cause cramping when you move that goes away when you stop. It’s common to have PAD and CHD together.
High blood pressure (hypertension). When your arteries are hardened and blocked due to plaque, your heart works much harder to pump blood through them. This raises your blood pressure, which is a measure of the pressure your blood puts on your artery walls when your heart beats. High blood pressure also raises your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Understanding Cholesterol
It’s a waxy, fatty substance called a lipid that’s in your bloodstream. You need cholesterol for your body to function correctly. Your body uses it to make cell membranes, hormones, and vitamin D. Your liver makes it, and you also get it from foods you eat.
Proteins carry cholesterol through your blood. This combination of protein and cholesterol is called lipoprotein. There are two different types of lipoprotein:
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) takes cholesterol from cells to your liver, which breaks it down as a waste product so your body can get rid of it. Doctors often call HDL the “good” cholesterol. Higher levels of HDL are better than lower levels of HDL.
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) brings cholesterol to your cells so they can use it. When you have too much cholesterol, it builds up in your cells and can lead to disease. High levels of LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) mean you have excess cholesterol in your body.
Your doctor measures your cholesterol levels with a blood test. For healthy cholesterol levels, your goals should be:
- LDL: 70 to 130 mg/dL
- HDL: More than 50 mg/dL
- Total cholesterol: Less than 200 mg/dL
When these numbers are off and total cholesterol gets too high, your chances of health problems go up.
There are many causes of high cholesterol. For some people, genetic conditions such as familial hypercholesterolemia cause high cholesterol no matter how healthy their diet, exercise habits, or other lifestyle choices are. But for most people, high cholesterol happens because of:
- An unhealthy diet with high levels of saturated fat
- Smoking
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Alcohol use
- Lack of exercise
- Age
- High blood pressure
- Family history of stroke or heart disease
- Chronic kidney disease
- HIV/AIDS
- Hypothyroidism
- Lupus
What You Can Do
Be sure you’re seeing your doctor for regular checkups, so they have tabs on your blood work. If your cholesterol is creeping up, you may be able to control it with lifestyle changes. Your doctor might suggest you:
- Eat low-salt diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
- Reduce animal fats in your diet
- Drop extra pounds
- Stop smoking
- Cut back on alcohol
- Get more exercise
- Lower the stress in your life
If lifestyle changes don’t lower your numbers enough, your doctor may recommend you take cholesterol-lowering medications.
