There can be no better time than the present to think about that precious organ that pumps life around your body — your heart. Five simple lifestyle checks — smoking, diet, exercise, stress and alcohol consumption — will help you measure your success in managing the controllable risks to your cardiovascular system.

But don’t pass up the opportunity for a proper checkup. Factors such as your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels should be monitored by your doctor, who can also provide in-depth lifestyle recommendations tailored to your own needs.

Smoking

Smoking is the first primary check in managing your heart health. If you are a smoker, you are probably tired of hearing how bad it is for you but the fact remains that smoking is one of the top three risk factors for heart attacks and strokes.

Each time you smoke a cigarette, nicotine and carbon monoxide in the smoke damages your heart and blood vessels. While nicotine increases your blood pressure and heart rate over time, smoking also tends to make your blood cells and blood vessels sticky, encouraging the build-up of fatty deposits. This can lead to raised blood pressure and the formation of clots responsible for heart attacks and strokes.

Unhealthy diet

The second of the 'big five' cardiovascular disease risk factors is an unhealthy diet — eating too many calories for the energy you expend; eating too much fat, sugar or salt; and eating too few fruits and vegetables. So, your diet is next on the checklist.

If you can't burn off all the energy you consume, you risk becoming overweight or obese, possibly leading to diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and increasing your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

It's particularly dangerous to have a lot of fat around your waist. For example, a waist measurement of more than 102cm in men or 88cm in women is one of the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, a condition where various heart risk factors (waist fat, cholesterol level, blood pressure and glucose intolerance) cluster together, raising your chances of cardiovascular disease.

Never forget that invisible ingredient in many foods — cholesterol. To keep your cholesterol down to the recommended total of 5mmol/l, reduce the number of saturated and animal fats in your diet, and stock up on extra fruit and vegetables.

Exercise

Diet goes hand-in-hand with what burns off those calories — your third check — exercise. The risk of coronary heart disease is far higher in physically inactive people, who are up to 50 percent more likely to have strokes than their fitter counterparts.

Exercise lowers your risk of heart attack or stroke by burning off energy to keep your weight down, lowering your blood pressure, reducing stress, strengthening your heart muscle and improving circulation.

Ongoing stress

Fourth on the checklist is ongoing stress which can contribute to a range of health conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure. It can also make you vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes.

Adrenaline pumped during stressful situations raises your blood pressure and heart rate, weakening the heart over time and injuring the linings of arteries. Another stress hormone, cortisol, causes fat to be laid down around that danger area — your midriff — making you even more susceptible to heart problems. Stress also encourages blood to clot, raising your chances of artery blockages that cause heart attacks.

Alcohol

Finally, alcohol. True, one to two alcoholic drinks per day may have a protective effect on your heart health by raising your level of 'good' HDL cholesterol and reducing the build-up of plaque in your arteries.

But the same cannot be said of increasing levels of alcohol consumption, which raises your blood pressure and in turn, your risk of associated diseases such as strokes. Excessive alcohol intake can also cause heart muscle and arterial damage. So you needn't go cold turkey, but rather drink in moderation to stay healthy.