Good heart health is like building a house, which takes great effort and hard work. The healthier lifestyle that you had started, should continue with your growing age. You just need to work a bit more and make some changes in your lifestyle. Moreover, when it comes to high cholesterol, it becomes extremely crucial.
Cholesterol is none other than a fatty substance produced by your body which is also found in some foods. Your body needs some (good) cholesterol to work properly, but high cholesterol can cause a risk of heart attack and stroke. When additional cholesterol starts accumulating in your blood vessels, it causes the problem of blockage.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, high cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease. Your total cholesterol level is the total amount of cholesterol found in your blood. Out of this, it is segregated into low-density lipoprotein (LDL) i.e. bad cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) i.e. contains good cholesterol.
Cholesterol in adults
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According to the American Heart Association, all adults should start scrutinizing their cholesterol levels every 4 to 6 years after the age of 20. The actual cholesterol levels begin to increase after 20 years of age.
Cholesterol levels continue to grow with our age. It is also seen that men usually have more cholesterol than women. However, when women enter the stage of menopause, they are more at risk of cholesterol. Those who have high cholesterol, they are recommended to get regular check-ups at certain intervals of time.
Cholesterol chart for adults
According to the 2018 guidelines on the block cholesterol management published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the following table is an acceptable, borderline and correct assessment for adults.
Cholesterol in children
Those children who:
- are involved in physical activities
- consume healthy diets
- fit and healthy
- has no family history of high cholesterol
are very less likely to have high cholesterol. According to the current guidelines, all children should get their cholesterol check between 9 to 11 years of age and after that, they should do this between 17 and 21 years.
Children who have diabetes or a family history of high cholesterol should get their cholesterol checks between the ages of 2 to 8 years. After that, they should get their cholesterol check between the ages of 12 to 16 years.
You can control your cholesterol level in these easy ways.
- Lifestyle changes
- Exercise
- Eat more and more fiber
- Eat healthy fat
- Think twice before eating cholesterol-rich items
- Quit smoking
It is very important to keep in mind that every person is different. Family history and other conditions like diabetes increase the chances of cholesterol risks in a person. Talk to your doctor about your cholesterol level and ask them how much your level should be.
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