Symptoms and causes of high cholesterol in lean people & bull; hello healthy

Overweight or obesity is a scourge for us. Apart from the less attractive appearance factor, obesity is a risk factor for the emergence of many diseases. Obesity is always associated with a lot of fat, but did you know that high fat levels do not only attack obese people? Even people with ideal posture can actually suffer from this one disease. People call it high cholesterol, but what happens is an imbalance between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. This disease is called dyslipidemia.

What is dyslipidemia?

Before we talk about dyslipidemia, we must know the types of fat in our body, namely LDL (low-density lipoprotein or bad cholesterol), HDL (high-density lipoprotein or good cholesterol), triglycerides (the result of excess consumption of carbohydrates converted into fat), and total cholesterol (the accumulation of all three types of cholesterol). Dyslipidemia is a fat metabolism disorder characterized by an increase or decrease in the type of fat in the blood plasma.

The main types of fat disorders are an increase in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, and a decrease in HDL cholesterol levels. So, these 3 things must be fulfilled when someone is suffering from dyslipidemia, not just high cholesterol alone. Normal fat content must be maintained, but how many normal levels must be achieved?

Fat levels can be determined through blood tests. Usually a person is advised to fast before doing this examination. The duration of fasting is 10-12 hours.

Factors affecting blood lipid levels

1. Genetic

This factor has the most important role in determining a person's total cholesterol level. A person's cholesterol levels can be low or high according to their genetic conditions. These genetic conditions are numerous, including familial hypercholesterolemia, familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency, and hepatic lipase deficiency.

2. Age

As you get older, organ function will also decrease. Decreased organ function will affect a person's cholesterol metabolism process.

3. Lifestyle

Physical activity, a high-fat diet, smoking, and alcohol consumption are examples of behaviors that significantly affect a person's cholesterol levels. The more often you do this, the cholesterol levels can increase sharply.

4. Anti-cholesterol drugs

The use of anti-cholesterol drugs such as simvastatin will certainly affect a person's blood cholesterol levels. Simvastatin lowers cholesterol levels through inhibition in cholesterol synthesis or production.

Symptoms of dyslipidemia

Dyslipidemia usually shows no symptoms, especially if the person's posture looks thin or ideal. However, there are some symptoms that, although not so typical, are often found in people with dyslipidemia, namely:

Abdominal pain
Dizzy
Chest pain
Hard to breathe
Headache especially in the nape
Drastic weight loss or gain
Calf pain when walking

How to treat dyslipidemia?

If you already have blood fat levels above normal, don't be discouraged. Apart from taking anti-cholesterol drugs, there are several things you can do to achieve ideal fat levels.

1. Set the intake of food, aka diet

Limit your intake of trans fats such as fried foods, crackers, cookies, breads and donuts.
Limit consumption of carbohydrates to less than 60% of your daily menu. Foods such as rice, noodles, and pasta can increase triglycerides, because excess sugar is converted into these types of fats.
Increase your consumption of omega 3 and omega 6 from fish or fish oil. Consumption of these foods can increase HDL (good cholesterol) and lower triglycerides.
Diets high in fiber such as nuts, fruit, vegetables and whole grain cereals that have a hypocholesterolemic effect.

2. Increase physical activity

The effect of physical activity, especially a decrease in triglycerides and an increase in HDL cholesterol. Aerobic exercise can lower triglyceride concentrations by up to 20% and increase HDL cholesterol concentrations by up to 10%. However, without diet and weight loss, physical activity has no effect on total and LDL cholesterol. The recommended physical activity is measured activity such as brisk walking 30 minutes per day for 5 days per week or other activities equivalent to 4-7 kcal / minute.

Some of the activities you can do are:

Sweep the page for 30 minutes
Walk briskly (4.8-6.4 km per hour) for 30-40 minutes
Swimming - for 20 minutes
Bike for fun or transportation, a distance of 8 km in 30 minutes
Play volleyball for 45 minutes
Using a lawnmower driven for 30 minutes
House cleaning (on a large scale)
Play basketball for 15 to 20 minutes

3. Weight loss

The normal waist circumference for Asia is a maximum of 90 cm for men and a maximum of 80 cm for women. Every 10 kg of body weight loss is associated with a decrease in LDL cholesterol by 8 mg / dL. Every 1 kg decrease in body weight is associated with an increase in HDL cholesterol by 4 mg / dL and a decrease in TG concentration by 1.3 mg / dL.

4. STOP smoking

Quitting smoking can increase the concentration of HDL cholesterol by 5-10%. Smoking is also associated with an increase in triglyceride concentrations, so if you stop smoking, it will also be beneficial for changes in triglyceride levels.