MORE THAN 50 local businesspeople in the south have stepped up to take a new health challenge which, if successful will be rolled out to the general public later in the year.

The12 Week Healthy Heart Challenge which will see people take small, achievable steps to improve their health each week.

It's being run by Wessex Heartbeat and aims to encourage small, subtle changes to daily lifestyles, in easily manageable ways, that are fun and achievable.

It starts with a health check from one of Wessex Heartbeat’s cardiac nurses, checking everything from participants' weight and cholesterol to blood pressure and BMI.

They then get sent a new achievable challenge to complete each week, such as drinking 2-3 litres of water a day or walking a certain number of steps. A special Facebook group will give daily heart health tips and host live workout sessions in association with Brightside Personal Training.

At the end of the programme, participants can expect to see positive improvements on their heart health stats says Wessex Heartbeat.

Chief executive John Munro says the 'achievable and incremental nature of the challenge' means it’s much more likely to improve heart health than an extreme fitness regime or fad diet.

“Taking small steps each week means people will be far more likely to succeed in getting fitter and healthier," said John, who has taken the challenge himself. "The feeling of achieving one goal can really motivate you to achieve the next and the group nature of ‘we’re all in this together’ will also be a real driver.”

He said that coronary heart disease remains the number one killer in the UK and there are around seven million people living with cardiovascular disease.

“These are worrying stats and so prevention is critical for us going forward," he said. "If we want to stop people dying from heart disease later in life we need to get them heart healthy now. If we can get people to take small steps to improve their health through initiatives such as the 12 Week Challenge then we’re going some way to achieving that.”

As an incentive the top performing male and female on the challenge will win 12 weeks of personal training with Brightside Personal Training, along with 12 cases of Hildon water to keep them hydrated.

To find out more and register interest for the public 12 Week Challenge, visitheartbeat.co.uk