Holidays should be prescribed by GPs to help people at risk of heart disease live longer, new research shows.

Heart experts said doctors should recommend a break to middle-aged patients trying to overhaul their health - not just tick them off about bad habits.

The 40-year study found that such patients were a third more likely to die young if they took less than three weeks off each year.

The Finnish research involved 1,200 businessmen who were at risk of heart disease because of their weight, or signs of high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Half were given strict advice to lose weight, take up exercise and put on standard medications.

But the study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Munich, found those given the warnings were slightly more likely to die young than those who had been left to their own devices.