Table of contents:
Uncontrolled high cholesterol levels can lead to dangerous diseases, such as stroke, heart attack, and peripheral artery disease (PAD). Therefore, it is important for you to know the signs of high cholesterol in order to avoid these diseases
Actually cholesterol is not always bad for your body, because the body actually needs these substances to support metabolic processes, build new cells, help produce vitamin D, and form hormones.
Unfortunately, an unhe althy lifestyle is often the main factor causing increased cholesterol levels in the blood. If this condition continues, cholesterol will form plaques that can block blood flow, thus triggering heart and blood vessel disease.
Signs of High Cholesterol
There are no "typical" complaints that can describe high cholesterol levels with certainty. Even so, there are some symptoms that are often felt when someone has high cholesterol, including:
1. Pain in the neck
Although it can be caused by many things, such as muscle and nerve pain, in fact this complaint is quite often experienced by people who have high cholesterol. This is associated with plaque buildup in the blood vessels in the neck area. This plaque buildup can block the flow of blood in the neck and to the brain.
2. Easy to feel tired and sore in the legs
Plaque in the blood vessels that appears as a result of high levels of cholesterol in the blood can cause reduced blood flow to body tissues. This is what ultimately makes people with high cholesterol become more easily tired. In addition, if this plaque buildup occurs in the blood vessels in the legs, the patient's leg area can feel heavy, painful, and even stinging like burning.
3. Pain in the chest
When cholesterol levels are too high, plaque buildup can also occur in the heart's blood vessels. This can interfere, even block blood flow to the heart.
One of the complaints that generally arise as a result of this is pain in the chest. Even if the blockage is complete, it can lead to a heart attack.
Preventing High Cholesterol
In order to avoid the various effects of high cholesterol that can be dangerous, you are encouraged to take the following preventive steps:
1. Set diet
One way that can be done to prevent high cholesterol is to adjust the diet to be he althier. Start by reducing the amount of saturated fat and trans fat, which are found in fast food.
Instead, choose foods that are low in fat or contain he althy fats, such as fish, boiled or grilled chicken breast, low-fat milk, nuts, and leafy greens.
2. Stop smoking
Smoking can increase the risk of cholesterol plaque formation in blood vessels. Therefore, stop smoking to reduce the risk of plaque buildup due to high cholesterol.
3. Exercise regularly
In addition to doing the two methods above, to prevent an increase in cholesterol levels and help lower cholesterol levels, you are also advised to do regular exercise.
Signs of high cholesterol sometimes cannot be felt directly. So if you have risk factors such as unhe althy eating habits or patterns, smoking, obesity, or have experienced the complaints described above, do regular he alth checks with your doctor. This is necessary to determine cholesterol levels and prevent complications due to high cholesterol levels.
