Is stress cause high cholesterol?

For those struggling with high cholesterol, there are several factors and lifestyle characteristics that contribute to increased cholesterol levels. Some of these causes are uncontrollable, such as age or genetic history. But there are also other habits and everyday life routines that can be managed or changed to reduce cholesterol induced by more dynamic factors like stress.
Stress can be detrimental to an individual’s cholesterol in both an indirect and direct manner. Scientists have come to believe that increased levels of cholesterol are a result of the body’s biological response to stress that involves increased production of energy sources like fatty acids and glucose, which requires increased production of LDL, or harmful cholesterol, by the liver. It is important to note, however, that most physicians do not view stress as a major determinant of cholesterol levels. Instead, it is viewed as a secondary cause that compounds existing causes, thus increasing the severity of an individual’s cholesterol problem, not creating it. Physicians across the world have yet to discover, with complete certainty, the exact relationship between stress and cholesterol, but a very clear association between the two has been established.

Scientific investigations into the relationship between psychological factors and cholesterol have gone on for some time, with experimentation on “Type A” and “Type B” personalities being conducted since 1959, but stress and other psychological triggers for cholesterol production have consistently been remedied by lifestyle changes and behavioral adjustments, with some exceptions that include the use of pharmaceutical drugs.

The general consensus amongst most doctors is that the complete eradication of stress from any individual’s daily life is almost impossible, thus making effectively coping with and managing stress the primary goal. Creating a healthy diet for every day life and regular exercise are the most common and dependable treatment for cholesterol problems.