Shropshire’s armed forces get the HeartAge test

Shropshire’s HeartAge campaign has recently begun to take off with an event held over two days at Tern Hill Barracks, with the soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment taking the quick test.  The events took place on Thursday 3 July 2014 and Friday 4 July 2014.

Each Regimental company, was allocated a time slot in which they took their test, with approximately 100 personnel taking the test on the Friday alone.

Shropshire Council’s public health team has worked in partnership with the HeartAge Partnership to launch Shropshire’s very own HeartAge Campaign.  The campaign encourages Shropshire residents to take a quick online test to determine their heart age.

The test includes a few simple lifestyle questions and takes no longer than five minutes. Questions include such things as age, height, weight, level of physical activity, and smoking status.

The aim of the campaign is to motivate Shropshire residents to adopt a healthier lifestyle and change certain aspects of their life, that may help reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes.  It also provides details of how to access local services and support for anyone seeking to make lifestyle improvements, such as managing cholesterol levels and also trying to quit smoking.

Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for health, said:

“The test is a great way of raising awareness of how our lifestyles can affect our heart age, and in some cases it will really open the eyes of people who may have believed there was little risk of them developing heart problems.

“The event at Tern Hill is a great way to raise awareness of Shropshire HeartAge, and gets Shropshire residents taking their heart health seriously no matter what their age.”

To find out your heart age go to www.heartage.me/shropshire.

For more information about Shropshire’s HeartAge campaign, email Gill Jones at gill.jones@smarthealthsoultions.co.uk.