Causes of high cholesterol you need to know & bull; hello healthy

High cholesterol is often dubbed a disease that can only happen to the elderly or obese people. In fact, high cholesterol can also be experienced by people who are young and overweight. Therefore, it is important for you to know what causes cholesterol to rise in order to know how much your risk is, as well as to avoid the risk of complications in the future. Then, what are the causes of high cholesterol? Check out the following explanation.

Various causes and risk factors for high cholesterol

In fact, there are many things that can cause high cholesterol. Starting from daily habits that can actually be prevented to certain medical conditions.

1. Increasing age

One of the risk factors for high cholesterol is age. The more you get older, the more likely you are to experience this condition. For example, men whose age is 45 years and over and women who are over 55 years old have a higher risk of developing high cholesterol and heart attack.

However, it does not mean that at the age that has been mentioned, you will definitely experience this condition. When age becomes a risk factor for high cholesterol, this is usually influenced by changes in body function and metabolism which also decreases. So, it's no wonder that most elderly people have higher LDL cholesterol than young people.

However, that does not mean that young people cannot experience this condition. Moreover, this condition often does not show certain symptoms of high cholesterol. Therefore, you still have to keep your cholesterol levels normal, even though you are young. One of them is by maintaining a healthy diet.

2. Accustomed to unhealthy eating patterns

Launching the British Heart Foundation, one of the causes of cholesterol is unhealthy eating habits. The habit of eating and snacking carelessly can be the cause of high cholesterol levels in the blood.

Consume excess saturated fat-rich foods

Eating foods that are rich in saturated fat and trans fat can indeed increase fat levels in the body. The problem is, the higher the fat content in the body, the higher the potential for you to experience high cholesterol.

Saturated fat is easy to find in food. You can find it in beef, lamb, butter, cream, and cheese made from 2% milk.

Meanwhile, foods made from plants and high in cholesterol are coconut and coconut oil. Too much saturated fat can be the cause of high cholesterol levels.

Not only that, trans fats are fats that have been processed by the factory and added with hydrogen to make vegetable oil thicker. As with saturated fat, this fat can also be a cause of high cholesterol levels.

This is because these fats can increase bad cholesterol levels and actually reduce good cholesterol levels in the blood. Since the body still needs fat intake, replace saturated and trans fat intake with unsaturated fats.

You can find it in olive oil, olives, nuts such as walnuts and almonds, and omega-3 fatty acids in fish. The reason is, unsaturated fats can help you control cholesterol levels in the body.

Consume excess sugar and alcohol intake

When you are diagnosed with high cholesterol, you may focus only on limiting fatty foods. However, many of you don't pay attention to sugar and alcohol intake.

In fact, the excess calories that you might get from sugar and alcohol will turn into triglyceride cholesterol, which can increase bad cholesterol (LDL) in your blood.

One way to balance cholesterol levels is to reduce all sugar intake, including sugary drinks, alcohol, and refined carbohydrates such as bread and pasta.

Less consumption of cholesterol

Although it is often viewed negatively, in fact the body needs cholesterol. The body gets cholesterol from two sources, namely by making it yourself in the liver and from the food consumed.

When cholesterol intake decreases, your body will produce more cholesterol to meet its needs. Therefore, too limiting the consumption of cholesterol foods can actually cause your cholesterol to soar high even though you are living a healthy life. You can still eat these types of food as long as they are in moderation.

Wrong in determining taboo

In addition to eating foods rich in unsaturated fats and reducing sugary foods and drinks, you also need to adjust your diet. Don't get you wrong in determining food restrictions.

Usually, to avoid cholesterol, you avoid eggs that contain high cholesterol. In fact, when you avoid it, you just miss the high protein found in eggs.

You are fine to eat one egg a day, but it is not advisable to eat steak and a glass of milk afterwards. That means making sure that you don't just avoid all foods. The most important thing is to set the right boundaries.

The way to determine the right diet is to get used to eating foods that are good for cholesterol. For example, reduce high cholesterol foods even if you don't stop eating them altogether and increase fiber-rich foods. Yes, fibrous foods can lower cholesterol.

3. Lazy to move

Are you aware that being lazy to move can be one of the causes of increased cholesterol levels in the blood? Think about how much time you spend lying down or sitting leyeh-leyeh while checking your cell phone, watching television, or just playinggames.

Especially if you are an office employee who spends time sitting silently at the computer for hours. Yes, being less active and lazy to exercise can be one of the causes of your cholesterol levels to increase.

Especially if this is supported by unhealthy food choices and is rich in fat. The reason is, the pile of fat will continue to settle in the blood vessels and not be burned through physical activity such as sports.

In addition, exercise can also help you lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Therefore, avoid lazy habits and start exercising regularly.

4. Excess weight

Excess weight can be one of the causes of high cholesterol levels. The reason is, being overweight is usually a sign of excess levels of fat in the body. This condition can be the cause of high cholesterol levels.

In addition, being overweight can increase the risk of heart disease that occurs due to increased cholesterol. For example, the risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack, and heart failure. Meanwhile, many factors can contribute to being overweight, which also leads to increased cholesterol levels. For example, lazy to exercise, the habit of eating foods rich in fat, to lack of sleep.

If you really don't want to experience high cholesterol levels, you can avoid the causes of this condition by maintaining an ideal body weight. This is an effort to stabilize the levels of good cholesterol or HDL and levels of bad cholesterol or LDL in the body.

To find out if your body weight has exceeded the normal limit, try to measure it with a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator. If your BMI is 30 or more then you are already in the category of overweight.

Therefore, by trying to maintain an ideal body weight, it means that you have been maintaining a healthy body to avoid various other diseases that may arise due to high cholesterol levels.

5. Smoking habits

Believe it or not, smoking can cause high cholesterol levels in the body. This is due to the acrolein found in cigarettes. This substance can affect LDL levels in the body by blocking the action of the enzymes responsible for keeping LDL levels within normal limits.

Without this enzyme, LDL cholesterol in the body becomes susceptible to oxidation processes. The problem is, oxidation can change the molecular structure and cause the immune system to no longer recognize LDL. This results in a buildup of bad cholesterol in the body. Therefore, smoking can be a cause of high cholesterol levels in the blood.

If bad cholesterol levels build up in your bloodstream, the higher this condition is the cause of heart attacks and strokes you may experience. Therefore, quitting smoking is one of the efforts you can do to avoid one of the causes of high cholesterol, as well as diseases and health problems that you don't want.

Unfortunately, both active and passive smokers are at high risk of developing artery blockages that can lead to various heart problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes. So, even if you don't smoke, you need to avoid cigarette smoke to avoid the causes of high cholesterol too.

6. Have a certain disease

Another cause of high cholesterol is a history of the disease you have. There are several diseases that have the potential to cause high cholesterol levels in the blood. Therefore, you also have to be careful with all the health conditions you have.

Some of these health conditions may be the cause of cholesterol, so you should be aware of:

Diabetes.
Liver disorders and kidney problems.
High blood pressure (hypertension).
Thyroid gland disorders.

There are also certain drugs that can cause an increase in bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Some of these drugs include progestins, anabolic steroids, and corticosteroids.

Family health history can cause high cholesterol

Feel like you haven't done the things above, but your cholesterol level remains high? It could be that the cause of high cholesterol that you experience is a family medical history. The reason is, this condition can be passed down from father, mother, and even grandparents. Conditions that can cause you to experience an increase in cholesterol levels in the blood are called familial hypercholesterolemia.

Yes,familial hypercholesterolemia is a genetic disease that occurs because there is damage to chromosome 19. A gene mutation inherited from a parent can control every cell in our body so that it does not quickly eliminate LDL cholesterol, or it can cause the liver to produce too much LDL.

This condition causes the body to be unable to move bad cholesterol or LDL from the blood. This also causes LDL levels to continue to rise in the body of the person experiencing it.

The severity of this condition is usually influenced by how much LDL cholesterol is in the blood. If family history is the cause of high cholesterol levels in the blood, you need to be careful. In addition, the higher the level of bad cholesterol in the body, the higher the risk of artery narrowing at a young age.

Immediately do a blood test to check how high your cholesterol is so you can immediately get treatment for the right cholesterol. If left untreated, you can experience various health problems that complicate cholesterol.

One of the causes of high cholesterol can be characterized by several conditions, such as the following:

The patient develops xanthomas in several parts of the body including the hands, elbows, knees, ankles, and around the cornea of the eye.
Pain in the chest or other symptoms of coronary heart disease that appear at a young age.
One or both calves often feel cramps when used on foot.
Pain in the toes and incurable.
Symptoms such as stroke, for example difficulty speaking, weakness in the hands or feet, and loss of balance.

Even though this condition runs from generation to generation in your family, it does not mean that this condition cannot be overcome. As with other causes of cholesterol,familial hypercholesterolemiacan also be overcome by changes in lifestyle and various drugs used to treat cholesterol.

To overcome this condition, the most effective thing is to maintain a diet. You are advised to reduce your intake of foods rich in saturated fats and trans fats. Replace sources of fat by eating foods rich in unsaturated fats.

In addition, avoid foods high in cholesterol and increase your intake of fiber which can lower cholesterol levels in the body. Also balance it with regular physical activity such as exercise, at least 150 minutes a week. You can share this by exercising regularly for 30 minutes five times a week. Reduce smoking habits and also intake of alcohol which can increase cholesterol in the body.