Seven of the top 10 polo players in the world are Argentinian, and it’s one of the country’s most popular sports. While polo matches in Britain are sometimes seen as elitist, they are very popular in Argentina, and big matches are broadcast live on TV.

During a match, two teams on horseback try to score goals by driving a small plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet.

Riders of all levels are welcome at polo clubs, where weekly or intensive sessions are often available to beginners. Or you could watch polo instead. Windsor Great Park has free access for those on foot or bicycle, who can watch games from the north side (opposite the royal box), so you can build a healthy walk or bike ride into your day out.

Polo is a good aerobic exercise and helps you strengthen muscles, particularly for the upper body. You can also get the same benefits from water polo, without the need to ride a horse.

• Ask at your local leisure centre if there are water polo sessions, or if you’re in England, find a club near you.

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The Australian government, its institute for planners and its National Heart Foundation have collaborated to create more active public spaces. The aim is to help planners, architects and urban designers develop areas that will get more people walking, cycling and doing others activities outdoors. This is important as some studies have found that living in more walkable neighbourhoods is linked to higher rates of physical activity and lower body mass index (BMI) levels.

• Discover free walking apps.

Studies have shown that people in Loma Linda, California, live up to 10 years longer than most Americans and enjoy better health in later life. This may be because about half of the 24,000 residents there are Seventh-day Adventists. This evangelical Christian community believes we should respect our bodies. They eat a plant-based diet, don’t smoke, don’t drink, go to bed early, and try to be grateful for their life and environment.

• Read more about alcohol and your heart.

The Dalai Lama once said: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.” He may have been onto something – people who volunteer are more likely to feel healthier and report a higher life satisfaction than those who don’t, the OECD Better Life Initiative found.

In Canada, nearly half of all adults (44 per cent) do formal volunteering. This is compared to the average of 26 per cent for OECD (industrialised) countries. In Britain, 32 per cent of adults report that they volunteer.

As well as helping the community, volunteering brings benefits for the volunteers themselves, as they gain skills and meet people, the report said. For example, people who engage in volunteering were more likely to have higher literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills and receive higher wages, on average, than non-volunteers.

• Try volunteering at an event or in a shop with the BHF.

People in Chad, Africa, eat the most fruit, vegetables, nuts and wholegrains, research suggests.

The study, published in the journal Lancet Global Health, assessed the quality of the diet in 197 countries.

However, it is not as simple as just having a good diet. The life expectancy in Chad is age 51, showing the vital role of good healthcare and living standards too. The researchers found that when a country became more westernised, people ate less healthily, with more processed meats, sugar-sweetened drinks and saturated fat.

“The ideal would be to combine good healthcare and living standards with a more traditional diet containing less processed food and more wholegrains, nuts, fruit and vegetables,” explains Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietitian at the BHF.

• Find the best ways to improve your diet in a sustainable way in our free booklet Facts not fads.

Compared with other countries, people in China cook at home more and spend much more time on cooking. Research from the School of Public Health at Peking University found that people prepared more of their own meals and spent, on average, two to three hours every day preparing meals, although this is changing slightly due to new technologies such as microwaves. Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietitian at the BHF, says: “Most of us tend to eat less healthily when we’re eating out. If you are eating out more, try to stick to one course, have a side of veg, and be aware of your portion size. Read my 10 tips for eating out healthily.

• Find fast, easy recipes to make at home on the BHF Recipe Finder.

Each Sunday and public holiday in Bogota, Cali, Medellin and other cities, the main streets are blocked off to cars, so that runners, skaters and cyclists can use them. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks for aerobics instructors, yoga teachers and musicians. The roads are known as ciclovías, a Spanish term meaning cycleways. Approximately two million people use Bogota’s weekly ciclovías. Cycling, running and walking are great low-cost ways to get active and get outdoors. If you want to try it Colombian-style, why not visit your local park or see if there’s an off-road cycle route near you?

• Find a BHF bike ride near you.

Falafel is a popular vegetarian snack around Egypt and the Middle East. Try our lower fat baked falafel.

There’s nothing like a good afternoon tea, and if you do it right it can be part of a balanced diet. Try one of these heart-healthy fresh strawberry scones.

Ethiopia has one of the lowest smoking rates for adult men, at just nine per cent, according to data from the World Health Organization. Ethiopian women are even less likely to smoke – less than one per cent of them do. Niger and Egypt have an even lower proportion of female smokers. We know that stopping smoking is the single most important step you can take to protect the health of your heart.

• Find out more about smoking and your heart.

The Mediterranean diet is associated with longer life, lower levels of obesity, and reduced risk of problems such as diabetes, raised blood pressure and high cholesterol. It includes fish, olive oil, nuts, and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s clearly working for the residents of Ikaria, a Greek island, where residents regularly reach 100 years old, and there are low rates of cancer and heart disease.

• Find tasty Mediterranean dishes on the BHF Recipe Finder.

French people spend the most time each week on leisure (for example, socialising, hobbies or relaxing) and personal care (for example, eating or sleeping) of all 35 OECD members (industrialised countries). Only eight per cent of French employees work very long hours (50 hours a week or more). In 2000, the French prime minister reduced working hours to 35 hours a week, down from 39. That means that for most workers, anything over 35 hours should count as overtime. Research has shown that people who feel in control of their work schedule and have a better work-life balance tend to have greater job satisfaction, and lower levels of depression and fatigue.

• Learn about healthy work environments.

Goulash is a Hungarian classic, often made with beef. Sample our heart-healthy vegetable and bean goulash.

Fish and shellfish consumption in Iceland is more than four times the European average, and almost five times the global average.

A healthy diet should include at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish, but in the UK most of us aren’t achieving this. The omega-3 fats found in oily fish have been associated with the prevention of coronary heart disease.

• 10 surprising fishy facts.
• Get our recipe for an Icelandic-inspired smoky cod stew.

Samosas can often be high in fat. Try the BHF samosa recipe for a low-fat vegetarian taste of India.

In the Caribbean diet, beans, chickpeas and lentils all supply healthy plant-based protein. They may lack one or more of the essential amino acids compared with animal protein, but eating a variety of plant protein each day, such as in the traditional Caribbean pairing of rice and peas (for example, black-eyed peas, kidney beans or pigeon peas), will ensure you are getting all the essential amino acids you need. For increased fibre and B-vitamins, choose wholegrain rice.

• Try our rice and peas recipe.

Japan is a country with high life expectancies and from 1970 to 2000 people in the Okinawa region lived the longest. Residents here often practice ‘hara hachi bu’, which translates to ‘eight parts out of 10’. This means that Okinawans stop eating when they are 80 per cent full. Next time you have a meal, try putting down your cutlery and removing your plate when you start feeling full, rather than taking a break and eating more. But remember to make balanced meals, as even small portions of unhealthy food could make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

• Find out more about portion sizes.

Sizzling fajitas are a real crowd-pleaser, but have the potential to be unhealthy. Why not ring the changes with this prawn fajitas recipe?

In 2011, the Mongolian Ministry of Health started developing a national salt reduction strategy for Mongolia. It found that on average Mongolian people were consuming 11g of salt a day (UK government recommendations say we should eat no more than 6g a day).

Common sources of salt in the Mongolian diet are processed meat, such as sausages and smoked meats, pickled vegetables, chips, sauces, and Western fast food. The high salt intake is also thought to be due to the popularity of suutei tsai – milky tea with added salt.

The food industry reduced the salt in bread, and the meat industry and mass catering services soon followed suit with their own products. The government also launched TV adverts, posters and a social media campaign encouraging people to look at food labels and choose lower-salt options as part of World Salt Awareness Week, which it now supports every year.

There have been similar moves in the UK. Since 2001 the salt content of packaged bread has been cut by more than 20 per cent. But most of us still eat too much salt – 8g a day on average. Look at nutrition labels and try to stick to pick green ones. If there isn’t a colour-coded label, a product is ‘low’ in salt if it contains less than 0.3g (or 0.1g sodium) per 100g.

• Read more about salty foods.

There is a strong sense of community in New Zealand, where 99 per cent of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, recent data has found. Beyond social support (which can have a really positive impact for people with health issues), the sense of community can provide a buffer against physical and mental health problems, and help people feel well adjusted, research found.

• Find a heart support group.
• Look up community support groups and organisations.

Ballet developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia, after originating in Italian courts in the 15 th century.

Classical ballet in Russia was not originally intended as entertainment, but as a “standard of physical comportment to be emulated and internalised – an idealised way of behaving”, according to ballet scholar Jennifer Homans.

Regular participation in ballet, as with other forms of dance, can improve posture and balance, while strengthening the arms, legs, stomach muscles, feet and ankles.

If you’d like to try ballet there are full classes or tutorials available for free on YouTube, and most dance and ballet schools run beginners’ courses. Many gyms offer barre classes, which are ballet-inspired classes with an emphasis on fitness.

Enjoy a healthy Swiss-style breakfast with our Bircher muesli recipe, featuring lots of fresh fruit. Here's our simple muesli recipe.

Before children start their lessons at school, they will often be led outside to do some exercise. This could be boxing, dance, gentle stretches, or other exercise. Research looking at Thai children found that exercise at school helped them maintain a healthy BMI and prevent obesity.

• Add some activity to your morning routine with our video, 10 strength exercises to try at home.