Healthy Hearts lead to healthy minds
26th February 2025
What does the heart do?
The heart's function is to keep us alive by circulating oxygen and nutrients in blood around the body with every heartbeat. It beats once every second on average and that means by the time you reach 70 years old your heart will have beaten about 2 billion times. Heart and circulatory problems cause some 160,000 deaths in the UK and up to 80% of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease are preventable.
How do you keep your heart healthy?
You can look after your heart and cardiovascular system with exercise, a healthy diet and controlled blood pressure and cholesterol. But it's also vital to get your cardiovascular health checked regularly, as many conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol often have no noticeable symptoms - until it's too late.
How is heart health linked to brain health?
We know that having a healthy heart reduces your risk of developing brain diseases like dementia. A study in Australia reported on by AGE uk, links risk factors such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity to an increased risk of developing dementia especially if these occur in middle age.
GP Care Now Health Checks.
Our health checks are the perfect way to assess whether your heart is healthy. The Gold Health Check involves a full history including family history, a full examination including a blood pressure check and an ECG to check your heart is beating normally. There is also a thorough blood test including cholesterol levels and a diabetic screening test. Following this we can calculate your heart age and advise you on what steps you should be taking to keep your heart and therefore your brain healthy.
https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-heart-age
So book an appointment today and check your heart is healthy.