Are you young at heart? Most of us feel that we are, but shocking new research has revealed that our heart age may be much more than our physical age. A test has been devised to allow all of us to determine the age of our hearts, it can be found on the Framingham Heart Study website. In order to do the test, you need to know your blood pressure and also your BMI, so take a trip to your GP if don’t already know them.

Heart age is determined by lifestyle and diet. For example, a 45 year old man with high blood pressure, diabetes, is a smoker but has a good BMI could well have a heart age of 75. That’s a whole 30 years older!! A 50 year old woman with high blood pressure, diabetes, smokes and has a high BMI could have a heart age of 85!! That could probably explain why heart attacks and strokes kill one in four of us. Take the test and think about what changes you can make to be young at heart inside and out.

One risk factor is fizzy drinks. which account for about 45,000 deaths related to heart disease each year. Fructose, often considered a healthier option to sugar is also bad for the heart. It can contribute to uncontrolled growth of the heart muscle which can lead to heart failure.

So good things for the heart are exercise, just walking is good exercise, so increase the amount of time you spend walking just by 10 minutes a day is enough to make a difference. Try to adopt a mediterranean diet  with plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. Give up smoking and cut down on alcohol intake. Small changes can make a big difference, that will be noticeable after just a few weeks.