heart risk factors

The Healthy Heart Programme is designed to help you understand and improve your personal heart health. It works by focusing on the key risk factors that affect heart disease and what you can do to reduce these risks.

Cholesterol

Reduce your cholesterol - whatever your starting level. More

Smoking

Stop smoking. This will reduce your risk immediately; however your risk remains raised for 5 years after stopping smoking. More

Overweight

Limit calories, exercise and eat a diet low in saturated fats and high in fruits, wholegrains, vegetables, lean meats and fish. More

Diet high in saturated fats

Eat foods low in saturated fat. Eat less fatty meat, cheese, full-cream milk, fried food and so on. Use sunflower or rapeseed oil for frying. Use low-fat spreads or spreads containing plant stanols, such as Benecol®.
Benecol® is a registered trademark of the Raisio Group, Finland.
More

Physical inactivity

Start exercising. As little as 30 minutes three times a week improves your health and can increase your HDL 'good' cholesterol level! More

Stress

Find time for relaxation. Simple breathing exercises, sports, music, meditation, reading, hobbies, taking a walk... there are many ways to reduce stress. Choose those that appeal and make time for them every day. More

High blood pressure

Follow your GP's advice to manage your condition. Maintaining a healthy body weight, limiting how much alcohol you drink, avoiding salt, reducing stress and being physically active are changes to your lifestyle that may help. More

Diabetes

Follow your GP's advice to manage your condition. Eating a healthy, low-fat diet, maintaining a healthy body weight and an active lifestyle, and not smoking may help keep the diabetes under control. More

All this information is stored under your personal

which you can update over time to record changes through measures such as cholesterol levels and body weight, combined with factors such as your age, gender and lifestyle.

By completing a simple questionnaire The Healthy Heart Programme will give you a risk assessment of your heart health and then, by providing us with a little more information about yourself, you can have access to tailored solutions, advice and offers focused on helping you to improve (and maintain) your heart health over time.

To make a start towards a healthier heart click here