**Episode Title: Day 08: Lifestyle Medicine - Move the Needle** **Host:** Hi and welcome back. I'm guessing, however, today's challenge is going to be pretty straightforward. If you're here at Younger Longer and looking to look after yourself, I'm guessing you may well be the sort of person who's already been doing some exercise to really give your body the very best chance to run smoothly and get all that metabolic stuff just right. Well, where does exercise fit in when it comes to cholesterol? It's a little bit complicated, but it's really interesting. Hang in there. Exercise itself doesn't tend to have a great deal of an effect on cholesterol levels of the sort that we're worried about with atherosclerosis. So, LDL, the so-called bad particle, doesn't change a great deal with exercise. But why is exercise valuable? We know it is, and every major cardiac society around the world, in different countries, will recommend about 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week for cardiovascular health. Well, what does it do? That exercise actually changes the body's metabolic processes and makes the body more sensitive to glucose, less insulin resistant, and improves, therefore, the way the body deals with particles like triglycerides, which are free fats that roam around in the body. They get lowered, HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, goes up, so that's got to be a good thing. And really importantly, the particle size of LDL, which is the bad one, gets larger and less problematic. We find that the change in particle size or character can have an impact on cardiovascular disease. That exercise also drives inflammation at the time that you're exercising, but then afterward lowers inflammation. How cool is that? So, will exercise alter your cholesterol? A little bit. It'll lower triglycerides, raise HDL, and shift your particle size from small, dense, nasty little LDL cholesterol to big, fluffy ones. The problem is, big fluffy ones can still cause problems—that's a story for another day. But that metabolic process, better sugar control, and often better weight control, we know that exercise is good for your emotional well-being as well and can be as effective as medications for mild anxiety and depression. So, don't stop exercising; it's really good for you. But don't expect it'll lead to significant change in your LDL cholesterol measurement. It'll change the particle size instead. I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible. Till next time, take care and bye for now.