Lose weight if you're overweight. Being overweight is often associated with low HDL levels. Increase physical activity. This has a slow but steady elevating effect on HDL, which tends to rise in direct proportion to the amount of physical activity per week. In addition, postmenopausal women taking estrogen replacement therapy may also experience an increased HDL level.
Cholesterol lowering itself is safe, as is the diet used to lower cholesterol.
These results have been confirmed by a combined analysis of 16 recent studies. Your doctor will, however, also consider your HDL when deciding on treatments and goals. The ratio is useful if it helps you and your doctor keep the entire picture of your LDL and HDL levels in mind, but it should not take the place of knowing your separate LDL and HDL levels. Bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty will improve the blood supply to the heart, but it does not mean you can ignore your cholesterol level or the other CHD risk factors. Even though surgery restores blood flow in the heart, poor life habits will clog your new arteries even faster than they clogged your old ones.