Today virtually everyone has heard of the dangers of high blood cholesterol. Walking probably won’t do much to lower overall blood cholesterol level. But it may do something just as important: raise your high-density lipo protein cholesterol. High HDL levels are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
Walking may even protect against heart disease despite stubbornly high cholesterol levels, at least in men. In the Institute of Aerobic Research study, men with high overall cholesterol who scored in the top two fitness levels had less than half the risk of death of men with low overall cholesterol who scored in the lowest fitness level. In other words, even low cholesterol provides less heart disease protection if you are unfit.
The walking prescription for raising protective HDL levels is the same as that for lowering heart disease risks. If you are hypertensive, don’t use hand weights to increase your walking workout. Exercising your leg muscles won’t raise your blood pressure significantly during exercise. But additional exercise of the smaller muscles in your arms can raise your blood pressure, sometimes to dangerous levels. If you are taking any antihypertensive medication, talk with your doctor before beginning a walking program or other exercise. There are many different types of blood pressure medication, so find out from your physician the particular side effects or warning signs to watch for in your case. And set up a regular schedule of visits to monitor your progress. Don’t change the dosage of your medicines without your doctor’s approval. Walking up even relatively steep grades should cause you no harm. But take it slowly at first and use common sense.
Archives for the day Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
