If you are looking for the cheapest way to improve your good cholesterol, look no further than the one that is free – exercise.
Researchers recently analyzed 25 randomized and controlled studies. With 120 minutes of exercise per week, you can increase your HDL cholesterol by 2.53 mg/dL. Every 10-minute increase in exercise duration can increase your HDL by 1.4 mg/dL. What seemed to count most was frequency and intensity, not duration. And the best improvement occurred in people with higher total cholesterol levels and a lower body mass index (less than 28).
These numbers may sound small, but when it comes to good HDL cholesterol, they are important. HDL is the freight train that carries cholesterol from your arteries back to your liver for elimination. So exercise your cholesterol back to health.
Ref: Kodama, S., S. Tanaka, et al. Effect of aerobic exercise training on serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: a meta-analysis, Arch Intern Med, 2007; 167(10): 999-1008.