Health Experts Encourage Use of Home Cholesterol Tests
While advertisements for home cholesterol tests do not appear on the TV, the message in many TV ads lends a touch of importance to all such tests. Many commercials for various food products, especially cereals, mention the ability of that product to lower a person’s cholesterol level. They focus on the degree to which an acceptable cholesterol level helps to insure heart health. They emphasize how possession of a healthy heart can offer hope for a longer life. In that way those ads also speak about the importance of home cholesterol tests, tests of one’s chances for enjoyment of a long life.Any young college student who happens to read the textbook, An Invitation to Health, by Dianne Hales will gain a greater appreciation for the availability of home cholesterol tests. Hales has written this: “For the sake of a healthy heart, all adults should know what their cholesterol is, whether it’s too high and if it is what they can do to lower their cholesterol.”
Hales’ statement highlights the importance of home cholesterol tests. The measurement of a person’s cholesterol level acknowledges the dangers of having a cholesterol level that deviates from the normal. By the same token, many people are asking, “What’s normal?”
Health professionals encounter problems when they seek to answer that question. Hales has explained why in her textbook. She has written, “When it comes to cholesterol, ‘normal’ isn’t good enough.” Hales then goes on to reveal information that relates to what’s been learned from home cholesterol tests.
Such tests have shown that an average middle-aged man or woman in America has blood cholesterol of about 215 mg/dl of blood. That average is above the cholesterol level recommended by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). That Institute has warned that individuals who fail to lower their cholesterol below 220mg/dl face two times the risk of a hearth attack, compared to someone with cholesterol of only 180mg/dl.
In order to appreciate that warning, the individuals who are using home cholesterol tests should take time to understand why the test results send an important message. The results reveal the amount of cholesterol in a person’s bloodstream. Cholesterol, a fatty substance, has been shown to be a reliable indication of how quickly plaque can form in the veins and arteries.
Plaque, a sticky substance, can build up over time along the side of a blood vessel. That build-up then impedes the flow of blood in the vessel where it has developed. If blood flow to the heart becomes blocked, then the person having that blockage will suffer a heart attack. If blood flow to the vein is halted, then the person with the impeded blood flow will have a stroke.
Those stark facts make it clear why health experts encourage use of home cholesterol tests. Home tests help a person to see more clearly how diet and exercise has helped to lower a high cholesterol level. Home tests provide a person with a feeling of accomplishment, before he or she has been able to seek a confirmation of the results from any home cholesterol tests.
Armed with that feeling of accomplishment, a person will then be motivated to continue with a certain diet or a certain exercise routine. In that way, a person with a high cholesterol level can soon achieve a lower and more acceptable cholesterol level.