Hardening of the arteries is a very serious condition that can lead to other serious life threatening illnesses.  If you can think about  a garden hose and a fire hose, you know that fire hose is capable of delivering more water to a fire than the garden hose, given the same amount of pressure.  You could make the same amount of water flow from a garden hose as a fire hose, but it would take considerable more pressure to do so. 

If you think of your arteries as the hose that delivers blood to your heart, brain and other vital organs.  If your arteries become clogged and hardened, then less blood can flow through to nourish your heart, brain and organs without your heart pumping harder and faster. 

Bad choleserol can build up over time along the interior lining of your arteries.  And other drugs, such as nicotine from tobacco or caffeine, restrict the arteries. Your heart then must pump harder and faster, and your blood pressure increases in order for the heart to do its job, just as in the above "hose example.  

Eventually,  arteries harden, the heart must pump faster, blood pressure increases, and the risk of a heart attack, stroke, or outright heart failure increases.  Exercise to keep the heart strong and healthy, and cholesterol control through diet and through products like Lipistat™ can keep arteries from becoming clogged and from hardening.