A fitness regime can help tackle stress and reduce the chances of related heart problems, it has been pointed out.

More and more research is revealing the link between stress and heart disease and heart attacks but people should be taking more action, says Denise Armstrong, lifestyle manager at Heart Research UK.

"The main thing is to take onboard the practices which will reduce stress or alleviate the damage in the body caused by stress," she commented.

When we get stressed, the body produces hormones such as cortisol which can lead to a higher risk of visceral fat. This, in turn, increases the risk of diabetes and high cholesterol, which are risk factors for heart disease.

Exercise is a great way to relieve stress and keep the whole body in shape and should be coupled with a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.

Taking to an indoor rowing machine a few times a week may lower the number of cases of heart disease seen in the UK each year - it currently claims 91,000 lives.