Doctor's easy at-home test for your heart disease risk — you only need a tape measure

Doctor's easy at-home test for your heart disease risk — you only need a tape measure This simple at-home test can evaluate your risk of heart disease A doctor has taken to social media to share a simple at-home test that can help evaluate your risk of heart disease. On his TikTok account, heart surgeon Dr. Jeremy London, regularly shares tips for heart health, and recently shared this easy test. All you need for this test is a tape measure, and couple of spare minutes. Dr Jeremy says: "It's called the waist to height ratio, and the rule is simple. You want the circumference of your waist to be less than half your height." This is because the belly fat, or visceral fat, is metabolically active, and is a known driver for cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, explains the doctor. He continued: "There was one study that followed over a half a million patients for 12 years and they found that if in fact the propensity of fat was in the visceral area there was an increased risk of heart disease." How to test the waist to height ratio at home: Start by getting a tape measure and measure your waist at the level of your belly button. Breathe all the way out, and don't suck in. Then measure your height and divide your waist by your height. Dr Jeremy then says: "If it's greater than .5 then this is a reason to dig a little deeper with your doctor. "Now this doesn't tell the whole story, obviously, but it's a great place to start. And if you don't measure it, you can't fix it." How can I prevent heart disease? Dr Jeremy's advice comes after Cardiologist David Min, MD, shared four key foods that can help reduce your risk of heart disease - apples, avocados, blueberries and oranges. He told Eating Well: "A number of studies have shown that eating more fruit can lower your risk of a heart attack, stroke or death from cholesterol disease." As well as eating plenty of the fruits named above, there are lots of other ways you can lower your risk of getting heart disease. Top of the list is eating a healthy and balanced diet which is low in unhealthy, saturated fats and high in fibre. Other ways include: - Be more physically active - Keep to a healthy weight - Don't smoke - Reduce alcohol consumption - Keep blood pressure under control - Keep diabetes under control.