Yes, both diet and exercise impact cholesterol levels. A few changes to your diet can reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health. You should aim to reduce saturated fats, eliminate trans fats, increase your consumption of soluble fibre and eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

With your doctor’s approval, it’s ideal to work out at least five times per week for 30 minutes at a time and aim for 20 minutes of ‘vigorous’ exercise three times per week. We carry a variety of medications commonly prescribed for blood pressure and heart conditions, including heart failure, arrhythmias and ischaemic heart disease.

High cholesterol is diagnosed with a blood test. This blood test looks at total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and fat in the blood called triglycerides. Together these numbers give a doctor a good idea of cholesterol levels and whether you should be treated with lifestyle changes, cholesterol medication and the appropriate strength of the medication.

If you have a substantial number of risk factors that puts you at high risk of coronary heart disease, strokes or high cholesterol, speak to your doctor about how often your screening should occur.

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Depending on when high cholesterol is diagnosed and its severity will guide what treatment is most suitable for you. If detected early or at low levels, the most suitable treatment may be lifestyle changes as recommended by your doctor rather than cholesterol lowering drugs.

If high cholesterol is discovered at high levels or after an adverse event such as heart attack, stroke or mini-stroke, often doctors will straight away prescribe high cholesterol treatment.

The goal of cholesterol medications is the long term reduction of the risk of heart attacks, heart disease, stroke and other related conditions. Typically, unless modifiable risk factors are sufficient for controlling cholesterol levels, treatment is long term.

Statins

This treatment is typically the first choice for treatment for high cholesterol by doctors. Statins work by blocking the production of cholesterol in the liver as well as drawing out cholesterol from plaque in blocked vessels. Over long periods they have been shown to lower the risk of the adverse events associated with high cholesterol.

They are typically taken once per day. They do require monitoring through blood tests every 6-12 months to monitor cholesterol levels and liver function.

Like all medicines, they do have the potential to cause side effects in some people. Side effects can include muscle pain, tiredness, soreness and sleeping problems. If you experience any of these, consult your doctor or pharmacist.

Other Cholesterol Medicines

Other cholesterol medicines are typically used either with statins if further cholesterol reduction is required or instead of statins if statins cause too many side effects. Cholesterol-lowering medications of these types can work in a number of different ways. Some limit the absorption of cholesterol from your diet, while others use more cholesterol for body functions such as bile acid sequestrants and others will prompt the liver to absorb blood cholesterol.

Each of these medicines can cause side effects or may not be suitable for some people. It is important that a doctor prescribes you treatment after blood tests and monitors your condition regularly to ensure the best possible cholesterol therapy for you is used.

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Improving the modifiable risk factors for high cholesterol is one of the most important steps to avoid long term risks of high cholesterol. To do this you attempt to follow the following lifestyle advice:

• Eat a balanced diet - Foods high in saturated fats and trans fats such as dairy products, fatty meats and processed sugary foods can raise bad LDL cholesterol in the body. The body does need fats as part of a balanced diet but try to get these fats from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from foods such as avocados, olive oil, nuts and fish.
• Exercise - attempt to exercise 30 minutes a day. Doing so can improve HDL (good cholesterol). Exercise will also improve your general heart health and general wellbeing.
• Maintain a healthy weight - Similar to the first two points, having a healthy body weight can decrease LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (good) cholesterol through exercise. If you require assistance with weight loss, consult a doctor.
• Quit smoking- Lowers HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) and makes LDL cling to blood vessel walls.

• Lower alcohol consumption - Excessive drinking can increase total cholesterol.

Applying these lifestyle tips all at once can be difficult. It is important to take small but regular steps toward better health. Doctors are available to assist in making these positive lifestyle choices and should be consulted if you are having difficulty with any of them.