Get your blood checked for National Cholesterol Education Month

September is National Cholesterol Education Month, a good time to get your blood cholesterol checked and take steps to lower it if it is high. National Cholesterol Education Month is also a good time to learn about lifestyle choices that help you reach personal heart health goals.

High blood cholesterol affects over 65 million Americans. It is a serious condition that increases the risk for heart disease. The higher your cholesterol level, the greater the risk; and people can have high cholesterol and not know it. Lowering cholesterol levels that are too high reduces the chance of having a heart attack or dying of heart disease.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) offers helpful resources to use during National Cholesterol Education Month.

Read about high cholesterol on the NHLBI Diseases and Conditions Index (DCI)

The NHLBI DCI offers complete but easy-to-read information about high cholesterol including an explanation of lipid profiles. This includes the difference between low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad" cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good" cholesterol.)

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hbc/HBC_WhatIs.html

Learn your risk for having a heart attack

High Blood Cholesterol – What You Need to Know includes a tool to estimate the risk for having a heart attack, and outlines ways to reduce risk.

Order or download a copy.

What can I do if I already have high cholesterol?

Take a look at Your Guide to Lowering Cholesterol with Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC). This booklet is a "must read." It offers lots of practical advice for steps you can take to reach a lower cholesterol and to improve your lipid profile.

Order or download a copy.

UPCOMING CHANGE TO ORDER NHLBI PRINT MATERIALS

Currently, all NHLBI health information materials are available on the NHLBI Web site for digital download and self-printing. Materials may also be ordered in printed form. However, beginning October 4, 2010, print materials will be available at no charge in limited quantities. If larger quantities are needed the NHLBI can provide a printer's disk, which you can take to a local printer.