What you can do to lower your cholesterol levels

Here are steps you can take to lower your blood cholesterol or keep it low:

• Healthy eating. Follow a low saturated fat, low-cholesterol diet.
• Active lifestyle. Be more physically active. Exercise vigorously 30 minutes each time at least three times a week. If you're new to vigorous workouts, start by engaging in light to moderate forms of exercise such as brisk walking and climbing the stairs instead of using the elevators.
• Lose excess weight. Lose weight if you are overweight. Being excessively overweight places unnecessary stress on your heart and blood pressure.
• Cholesterol-lowering medicine. If these aren't enough, you may need to take medication to lower your cholesterol levels. See your doctor for advice.

Screening for high blood cholesterol

The cholesterol screening is a blood test to check the levels of all types of fats present in the body, including:

• Bad cholesterol. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
• Good cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
• Triglyceride (TG).