Cholesterol Facts You Must Know
By Sarah Scrafford
If there’s a taboo word in the realm of fitness and health, it’s cholesterol. This fatty deposit that clogs up our arteries and increases the risk of strokes, embolisms and cardiac arrests is dangerous in more ways than one. Here are a few facts about cholesterol that you must know if you’re bent on living a long and healthy life:
- Passive Poison: I’m talking about cigarettes and the secondhand smoke that we tend to inhale by close proximity to smokers. Research has proved that passive smoke tends to increase your bad cholesterol (LDL) and decrease its good counterpart (HDL). So if you live around a smoker, be prepared for your risk of heart diseases to go up by as much as 30 percent, even though you’ve never touched a cigarette in your life.
- Steamy Sex: which you cannot have if your arteries are clogged with this stuff. Scientists have found a direct link between erectile dysfunction and high cholesterol levels. The size of your erection depends not on the stimulation you receive or on your partner but on how healthy your heart is. If your ticker is in shipshape condition, you’ve nothing to worry about as far as your sexual life goes, but if the blood vessels linking your heart and your sexual organ are clogged with cholesterol, be prepared for embarrassing situations and questions, because this fatty substance is notorious for preventing adequate blood flow to your genitals required for a full erection.
- Moderate Martinis: A drink or two a day keeps the cardiologist away, but more than that brings other specialists to the door. Alcohol, in moderation, has been proven to have the double advantage of increasing your HDL levels and lowering your LDL levels. If you indulge yourself though, you run the risk of damaging your liver and raising your triglyceride levels which is not good for your heart.
- Related Risks: If you have a potbelly, if your triglyceride levels are greater than 150 mg/dL, if your blood pressure is high, and if you’re a diabetic, then be prepared for more bad news. While the above symptoms are all close friends and rarely exist without the others, just three of them together can increase your risk of succumbing to a heart attack.