If you have high cholesterol, you may need to change your lifestyle including your diet and exercise habits.  It has been shown that there is a positive relationship between exercise and cholesterol.  In fact, there are many exercises to lower cholesterol levels.

Exercise can be an important weapon in the fight against high cholesterol and heart disease.

Senior Man Jogging on Beach

According to recent studies, regular exercise has the ability to lower LDL levels and raise HDL cholesterol.  There are current studies that show LDL cholesterol can be lowered by 5 to 10%, whereas HDL cholesterol can be raised by between 3 and 6% with regular exercise.

While most of these studies involved aerobic exercises, such as swimming, running, and jogging, there were also studies that have also looked at the healthy benefits of other forms of exercise, such as yoga and walking and both were found to be effective. Regardless of which exercise you choose, it can be an important part of your routine in maintaining your cholesterol levels.

It is interesting to diagnose why exercise can help lower your cholesterol.  There are a few ideas.  First, exercise stimulates enzymes that help move LDL from the blood (and blood-vessel walls) to the liver.  From there, the cholesterol is converted into bile for digestion or excreted.   Therefore, the more you exercise, the more LDL your body expels.

Second, exercise increases the size of the protein particles that carry cholesterol through the blood. Some of those particles are small and dense; some are big and fluffy.  The small, dense particles are more dangerous than the big, fluffy ones because the smaller ones can squeeze into the linings of the heart and blood vessels and stay there, but with exercise, you can increase the size of the protein particles that carry both good and bad lipoproteins and possible prevent them from moving to your heart.

Any amount of exercise is going to help you.  However, the current guidelines suggest that you get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for 3 to 6 days per week.  If you have not been exercising on a regular basis, it is important to start out gradually so that you don’t injure yourself or get burned out.  In the beginning, you can divide a 30 minute time period into 10 minute intervals performed throughout the day.

Along with lowering your cholesterol, exercise can also strengthen your heart, bones, and other muscles of the body, in addition to helping you to lose weight.