[darkpuppet]

ZX5chica,Nov 29 2006, 03:42 PM Wrote:HDL is known as high density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of HDL, it can store more lipid (fat)... otherwise known as the *good* cholesterol. HDL can be increased substantially through exercise, mainly aerobic.
LDL is known as low density lipoproteins, meaning that for each molecule of of LDL, it stores less lipid (fat), so you need more of these molecules to store the same amount as on an HDL molecule (in theory)...
The ratio of HDL to LDL is what tells you whether you have high cholesterol or not, so the higher your HDL number in comparison to LDL, the better off you are..

And as for the heme question.... each blood molecule is comprised of a hemoglobin group, which basically binds iron to the main binding site of the blood molecule. This binding of iron allows oxygen to bind to the blood molecule (to deliver to working tissues), and carbon dioxide to be picked up by the tissues. If he has a high hematocrit level, that means that in his blood, there are more iron molecules than are necessary (its 4 iron molecules per hemoglobin unit). Essentially, that means that is blood is thick, which could lead to high blood pressure, and a whole bunch of other things.

To regulate this, you would either need to be a regular blood donor, or go on some form of blood thinner, to regulate the high blood pressure.

Does that make sense?
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I'd rather be a regular donor than go on blood thinners.

question tho... could this be caused by dehydration? I played beach volleyball the night before, which is a) extremely high exertion and b ) takes about a day to get my hydration levels back to square one.

but don't get me wrong, I drink a lot of water, but my system uses a lot... I have friends that could survive with one water bottle on the same bike rides I'd be consuming nearly 4L of....