The simple ways to keep your heart in good working order.

The heart beats about 2.5 billion times over the average lifetime, so keep yours in good working order.

Climbing four flights of stairs in less than a minute indicates good heart health, according to research presented at a recent scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). “The stairs test is an easy way to check your heart health,” says study author, Dr Jesús Peteiro, a cardiologist at University Hospital A Coruña, Spain.

“If it takes you more than one-and-a-half minutes to ascend four flights of stairs, your health is suboptimal, and it would be a good idea to consult a doctor.”

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in Australia, representing one in five of all deaths.

According to the Heart Foundation, key risk factors that contribute to heart conditions are largely preventable, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Also, two in three Australian adults are overweight or obese, which is among the leading risk factors for heart disease.

As well as standard treatment and lifestyle recommendations, recent studies also show some surprising remedies to improve heart health, including eating chillies and highintensity exercise. Research published by the American Heart Association has shown that consumption of chilli peppers may reduce the relative risk of cardiovascular disease mortality by 26 per cent.

And scientists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have shown that highintensity interval training (HIIT) strengthens the heart even more than moderate exercise does because it improves a number of mechanisms.