Keep your heart healthy

Give up: Smoking is one of the main risk factors for coronary heart disease - if you're a smoker, giving up can cut your risk in half. If you're having difficulties giving up, ask your pharmacist to tell you about the range of products available that can help.

Eat more fruit and veg: Eating at least five portions of fruit and veg a day also reduces your risk. These are full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants - substances many experts believe help protect the cardiovascular system.

They also contain fibre, which helps keep cholesterol levels down. And if you're eating lots of fruit and veg instead of high-fat or high-sugar foods, chances are you'll lose weight too.

Avoid saturated fat: High levels of saturated (or animal) fat are thought to increase levels of LDL ('bad') cholesterol. So eat less of the type of fat found in fatty meat, cheese, cakes, biscuits and processed snacks, and replace it with a small amount of vegetable oils such as rapeseed and olive oils (monounsaturated fats), and corn and sunflower oils (polyunsaturated fats).

Reducing the amount of saturated fat in your diet by just 10 percent could reduce your risk of death from heart disease by 20 to 30 percent.

Choose fish: Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, pilchards and fresh (not tinned) tuna contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acids that may prevent your blood from developing dangerous clots.

Eat at least one portion of oily fish a week. If, however, you're not a fan of fish, ask your pharmacist to recommend a good quality fish oil supplement.

Bin salt: Salt raises blood pressure, so avoid adding it to food and stay away from processed foods (which can be high in salt) and salty snacks. Aim for no more than 6g of salt a day (that's around one teaspoonful).

Drink less: One or two drinks a day may help prevent heart disease, but too much alcohol increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. The recommended guidelines for alcohol intake are three to four units a day for men and two to three for women.

A unit is the equivalent of half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider, a small (125ml) glass of wine or a single pub measure of spirits.

Get moving: Statistics show 37 percent of coronary heart disease deaths are related to inactivity, so start building more exercise into your daily routine. Experts reckon 30 minutes of moderate pulse-raising exercise on five or more days of the week is what we should all aim for. You don't even have to do half an hour in one go - if you're too busy, just break it up into shorter sessions.

If you're new to exercise, however, ask your pharmacist or GP for advice before you start, especially if you have any existing medical conditions or are particularly unfit.

Deal with stress: Stress could cause problems with your heart in several ways - for instance, you may smoke (and find it particularly difficult to give up) or eat too many unhealthy foods.

Find ways to deal with it - for instance, exercise is believed to help counteract stress, plus there is some evidence taking up meditation, yoga or a similar relaxing activity may help too.

If that's not enough the following websites are packed full of information on keeping your heart healthy:

• British Heart Foundation www.bhf.org.uk
• HEART UK www.heartuk.org.uk
• British Hypertension Society www.bhsoc.org
• Heart Research UK www.heartresearch.org.uk

Heart facts

The heart is a fascinating organ. A muscle that's about the size of your fist, it beats around 100,000 times a day - indeed the human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times during the average lifetime - in order to pump blood around your body.

In fact, the 5.6 litres or so of blood you have circulates around your body three times a minute - in one day, all that blood is estimated to have travelled a total of 12,000 miles. You've got to admit, that's pretty impressive.