When it comes to taking care of your heart and protecting it from disease, there's no time like the present. Whatever your age, the things you do now will affect you down the road -- it's up to you whether these effects are positive or negative. Courtesy of the Embrace Your Heart blog, here are six things you should be doing, or should start doing, to take care of your health, and life:

1) Get informed: talk to your doctor. Find out what illnesses you're at risk for, and take steps to prevent them. Get screened for things -- it might seem scary but you have a better chance of beating them early on than down the road
2) Get active: Incorporate some sort of activity into your life every day. Big or small -- it doesn't matter. Just get out there and get moving
3) Eat better: start moving away from processed, high-fat, refined foods. Choose fresh foods and avoid too much sugar. Drink lots of water. Put good things in your body.
4) Take a few deep breaths: Stop stressing so much. Take a few minutes out of your day to just be.
5) Be honest: It's all too easy to keep buying bigger clothes -- at some point, we have to admit that we're overweight and under-nourished. Face up to your unhealthy habits and unhealthy body -- it's the first step to change.
6) But at the same time, don't be so hard on yourself: you're human. You make mistakes. Yeah, you probably shouldn't have eaten that entire cake, but today's a new day, and a new chance to make a difference to your health.