If you are a woman, you’re potentially at risk of developing cervical cancer. Thankfully, a pap test, a preventive health screening, detects cervical cancer at a very early stage. Find out when and how to get your potentially life-saving pap test.
When it comes to keeping your cholesterol healthy, you’ve no doubt heard you need to keep your cholesterol levels low. High cholesterol is, in fact, dangerous to your health, but the different types of cholesterol aren’t all created equal.
To achieve ideal cholesterol levels, the key is to keep your LDL, or “bad cholesterol,” levels low, while you keep your HDL, or “good cholesterol,” levels high. Thomas Nguyen, MD, a board-certified internal medicine doctor of Nguyen Medical Group in Boynton Beach, Florida, explains the differences between HDL and LDL, and how to manage your cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a substance that naturally occurs in your blood. Having this substance is important to staying healthy, as it helps with various bodily functions, including digestion of fat and hormonal production.
Your body produces the levels of cholesterol it needs, but some lifestyle factors can cause your cholesterol to become elevated. When this happens, cholesterol can develop into plaques and cause bloodstream blockages that limit the flow of oxygen and blood.
Excess cholesterol puts you at risk for a number of serious health conditions. These include heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, and diabetes.
Your body produces two different kinds of cholesterol, HDL and LDL. You can remember them by thinking of HDL as “good cholesterol” and LDL as “bad cholesterol.”
LDL moves cholesterol toward your arteries. This type of cholesterol is known as “bad cholesterol” because it causes blockages in your arteries when too much is present in your body.
Ideally, you want your LDL numbers to be low so the small numbers of LDL naturally present in your body do their job without causing blockages.
The “good cholesterol” HDL moves LDL to your liver and away from the arteries. Because of its important role in your arterial health, you want to have higher numbers of HDL than LDL present in your body.
When determining if your cholesterol levels are healthy, our clinicians measure your LDL and HDL, as having too low levels of HDL puts you at risk, just like having high LDLs. Healthy cholesterol levels mean you have 60 mg/dl minimum of HDLs and under 100 mg/dl of LDLs.
If your LDL levels are too high or your HDL levels are too low, the good news is, lifestyle changes go a long way in reversing the problem. Our team develops a customized lifestyle plan while monitoring your cholesterol.
Lifestyle changes that support healthy cholesterol include eating a healthy diet, living an active lifestyle, losing weight if you are overweight, and getting regular exams and cholesterol checks from our team. If you smoke or chew tobacco, quitting also lowers your cholesterol.
If you have elevated LDL cholesterol and lifestyle changes aren’t bringing them down enough, our team might also prescribe medication that lowers cholesterol.
You usually don’t have any symptoms when you have high cholesterol, so getting your levels checked regularly is important. Book online or call 561-203-6295 to schedule an appointment at Nguyen Medical Group.
You Might Also Enjoy...
If you are a woman, you’re potentially at risk of developing cervical cancer. Thankfully, a pap test, a preventive health screening, detects cervical cancer at a very early stage. Find out when and how to get your potentially life-saving pap test.
If you’re an older adult, you have a unique set of medical needs and might benefit from receiving medical care with a geriatrician who focuses on the specialized types of care seniors need. Learn the major benefits of geriatrics medicine.
Skin tags don’t usually cause pain or medical issues, but they can make you self-conscious about how you look. Understand the different types of skin tags, and what you can do if you develop one or more.
Even the healthiest adult can sometimes need a health boost. You can quickly treat health concerns and prevent future medical problems by accessing primary care. Discover why primary care is such an important part of taking care of your health.
For most diabetics, staying active and getting regular exercise is an important component of your healthy routine. Follow these tips to exercise safely with diabetes and have fun at the same time.
The hormone regulating abilities of the thyroid are easy to take for granted, but when your thyroid stops working properly, it can cause unexpected problems. Learn the warning signs of thyroid problems that indicate you might need to get treatment.