Lower Your Cholesterol With Zocor
February 5th, 2010
When you have high cholesterol, the number the doctor is usually looking at is your LDL, you HDL is the good cholesterol and helps to take the bad cholesterol out of your blood and carries it to the liver while the other turns to a plaque and sticks to the interior walls of your arteries. The bad cholesterol is the one you have to worry about when it comes to heart disease and if yours is high there are drugs that can help like Zocor.
The HDL is the number you want to keep high, LDL is the number you want to keep lower; you can remember this by the initials HighDL and LowDL. Getting your HDL number is as easy as a simple blood test your doctor gives you. He can check your blood and give you your number so you know what you’re working with. A good range for HDL is between 60-70 mg/dl. Or even higher, anything lower than 40 mg/dl will make your risk of getting heart disease higher. If you do not have a good HDL number you will probably have to make some changes in your diet and exercise and if your LDL number is out of control, you may need to start a medication treatment such as Zocor to lower it.
A few tips to follow will help you increase your HDL number and Decrease your LDL:
- Weight- With as little as 20 minutes of exercise daily you can raise your HDL number therefore becoming healthier and lowering your chance of getting heart disease, this will also help you to lose weight and feel better.
- Smoking- There are studies that have been conducted to show that smoking actually decreases the HDL number and just quitting smoking will help you get your HDL to a higher level.
- Diet- Trans fats should be avoided at all costs, they have absolutely no good function for the body and you should never eat anything that contains them. Saturated fats and red meats should be avoided and eaten in small amounts. Eating thinks like fish and nuts is a good choice because it contains the omega-3 fatty acids that are good for your body.
- Drinking- Of course this is all part of common sense but drinking in moderation is okay. Do not drink in excess of 2 drinks a day for men and 1 drink a day for women.
Medication- One of the most popular medications for lowering your bad cholesterol and raising the good is the use of Zocor, you can learn more about this medication and others like it by speaking to your doctor about its uses and side effects if any.