Chiropractic Elk Grove

Heart disease is the leading killer for men and women in this country.  For some of you the warning sign will show up after checking your cholesterol.  If you are over the age of 20, you should be checking your cholesterol levels every 5 years and more often if you have had a test come up over 200 mg/dL before/in the past.  You should also check it more often if you are a man over the age of 45 and a woman over the age of 50.  If you have your HDL (”good cholesterol”) under 40 mg/dL you should check it before the 5 years are up and if you have a personal or family history of heart disease and other heart risk factors.  Then you may want to consider checking your cholesterol anywhere from 1-5 years.  Smoking increases your risk to having high cholesterol.  It speeds up the build up of the cholesterol on the inside lining of the blood vessels that will in turn can lead to a heart attack and stroke.  Women going through menopause should watch their cholesterol because it may increase over the age of 50.   If you have diabetes you are more apt to acquiring high cholesterol.  High cholesterol is also attributed to having stress in your life.  We can’t get completely away from stress but you can learn to deal with it better like;  You do know that cholesterol is made by your body naturally, right?  The liver makes it.  It is needed for your body to function.  It is in every cell of your body.  The problem arises when the amount of choleserol is too much or the balance betweent he “good” and “bad” cholesterol has been lost.  So on your next visit to your doctor’s office ask for him/her to check your cholesterol levels.  The first step is knowing.  Then you can help control with diet and exercise. 

Protect Your Heart,

Dr. Munoz