What's your heart's REAL age?

Experts have revealed the 'heart age' of someone is, on average, more than three years older than their actual age and can vary by years - depending on the job they do.

A new study has found people working in manual labour have the worst heart health, while teachers and those working in the medical profession have the best. 

So should you be worried about your heart and what can you do to improve its health?

The test takes into account a person's health, including cholesterol and blood pressure, and their family history of any illnesses.

It also considers lifestyle factors that could put them at risk heart problems, such as smoking and being overweight.

Researchers discovered that manual workers and people working within the transport and logistics and construction sectors, had the poorest heart health. 

Many employees in the profession were found to smoke, leading to some people's heart age being a worrying 8.7 years higher than it should be.

By contrast, those in professions including accountancy, banking and finance and teaching had heart's that were the equivalent of less than three years older than their chronological age.  

Scientists warn their findings mean much of the population are at heightened risk of heart attack or stroke. 

One in four deaths in the U.S. and UK each year is due to heart disease, while many result from heart attacks and strokes. Heart disease remains the biggest killer across the world.

But the research found that much could be done to improve health in the workplace and within the industries where employers pioneered employee health and well-being initiatives, heart health improved.

Dr. Fiona Adshead, chief wellbeing and public health officer at Bupa said: 'If current trends continue, by 2030 more than 23 million people will die annually from cardiovascular disease.

'Yet this research shows that there is huge potential for employers to help improve their employees' health – not only reaping the benefits of a healthy workforce, but also tackling the heart disease epidemic facing the world.

'When making small changes like providing healthy lunch options can take up to a year off heart age, employers have a great opportunity to support their employees having longer, healthier, happier lives and improve the health of millions of people.'

The global research was carried out by Bupa and the World Heart Federation with more than 8,000 consumers completing a heart age check.

The Hearts at Work campaign asked whether their employer offered healthy eating choices, digital health tools, gyms, stop smoking services, and mental health services such as counselling.

It found healthy eating options in the workplace could most quickly improve a person's health with an average decrease in their heart age of one year. 

Employees that were offered multiple workplace health initiatives by their employers had heart ages 1.8 years lower, on average, than those who were offered none.

Johanna Ralston, CEO of the World Heart Federation, said: 'The age on your birth certificate may say one thing, but your heart age could be saying something quite different. 

'This World Heart Day, we urge employers to put a focus on creating heart-healthy environments to help their employees bring down their 'heart age'.'

She added: 'The places where we live, work and play should not increase our risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke. 

'Yet individuals often find they simply cannot make the right choices for their heart health because of environmental factors, such as lack of access to healthy foods or smoke-free zones. We believe in healthy heart choices for everyone, everywhere.'

The concept of 'heart age' was created to help people to improve their perception of their heart attack or stroke risk, and provide motivation to change their lifestyle, as heart disease is the number one cause of death globally.' 

(dailymail.co.uk)