Maybe you’ve been eating fast food more often than you should, or you’re not getting
your recommended two-and-a-half hours of exercise each week. Or, it could be that you smoke, or your
blood pressure is too high. Well, for whatever reason, you may be concerned about your risk of getting heart disease.
Well, a few tests can help you learn that risk, so you can start making healthy lifestyle changes to reduce it.
A coronary risk profile is a group of blood tests that measure your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Why is it important to know these levels? Because if you have too much of these substances
in your blood from eating foods like burgers and French fries, they can clog your arteries.
Eventually your arteries can become so clogged that you’ll have a heart attack or stroke.
To measure your cholesterol, your doctor will give you a blood test.
If you’re also having your triglyceride level checked,
you may be told not to eat or drink anything for 8 to 12 hours before the test.
Depending upon your heart risk, the doctor may measure just your total cholesterol level, or your total cholesterol
along with your LDL or “bad” cholesterol, HDL or “good” cholesterol, and triglycerides.
Although some illnesses, like arthritis, can raise your cholesterol level, generally having high cholesterol means
that you’re at increased risk for heart disease and stroke.
It’s a sign you need to work harder to keep your heart healthy.
If your cholesterol levels are normal, that’s great! That means that you’re eating right, you’re exercising,
and you’re taking good care of your health. You don’t need to have another cholesterol test for about five years.
But if your cholesterol level is high, or you’ve already got heart disease,
high blood pressure, or diabetes, you’ll need to have your cholesterol levels checked more often.
Keeping close tabs on your cholesterol and triglyceride levels is one way that you can take
charge of your health, and change it for the better.