Heart Health Check

Balance your ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol

It is important to keep your heart healthy. However, would you know how healthy your heart is? With age cholesterol can build up within arteries, which makes it harder for your blood to get through to different parts of the body. As cholesterol ‘fatty’ deposits build up, your health can deteriorate. This is known as cardiovascular disease.

Take time to understand the role of cholesterol, and how your body fights to balance this. Over the years we put burden on this balance through bad habits such as poor diet and exercise. There are some factors that increase the burden which we can’t control; family history, age and ethnic group are such examples.

Cholesterol is a lipid (fat) that is required by every cell in the body. Cholesterol is vital for healthy body functions. It is produced and destroyed in the liver. Cholesterol is transported within lipoproteins. LDL (low density lipoprotein; ‘bad cholesterol’) transports cholesterol from the liver to cells. HDL (high density lipoprotein; ‘good cholesterol’) transports cholesterol back into the liver to be destroyed. It is this balance of bad and good that determines a healthy heart. If the balance is destroyed with a high amount of bad cholesterol; our arteries will clog up with these surplus fatty deposits.

The only way to determine your heart health is to have a health check. This health check will involve taking a small blood sample from your finger. The blood sample will give the values of your good and bad cholesterol and the balance between them.

Contributing health risks will further place pressure on our health. High blood pressure in combination with high bad cholesterol will strain our heart. This can lead to damaging effects to your body. This in turn can lead to a heart attack. It’s important to measure your blood pressure as there are no symptoms that can indicate high blood pressure.

If you are at risk or have diabetes, it is crucial to keep an eye on your cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose control.

dearPHARMACIST’s health check will give a clearer picture of your heart health and your risk of developing one of the vascular diseases: heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and type 2 diabetes. Your results will be discussed and an action plan of how to reduce for risk will be created for you. You will not be left on your own as dearPHARMACIST will keep a regular check on how you are getting on with your action plan.

A dearPHARMACIST health check will record the following results:

•    Blood Pressure
•    Cholesterol profile
•    Glucose
•    Body Mass Index
•    Audit C
•    Ten year risk analysis
•    Action plan in reducing your risk

We would advise you give dearPHARMACIST the consent to send this report to your GP. This will give your GP a clearer indication of your health. It will also keep your health records up to date. It is advisable to put these results on to your dearPHARMACIST Health Passport.

Book in today by calling dearPHARMACIST on 01474 534771.

 

Remember you can always visit dearPHARMACIST at Regent Pharmacy, 19 Windmill Street, Gravesend, Kent DA12 1AS. Come and meet dearPHARMACIST today.