A HUDDERSFIELD accountancy firm is spearheading a new stress-busting programme.

Holmfirth-based Rogers & Co is among a group of PROBIZ accountants promoting the FNG HeartMath programme to help business people and their families cope with the stress of modern life, improve their health and help them concentrate and learn.

The company is sponsoring a free two-hour HeartMath preview event on 6.30pm on September 11 at the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield. Delegates will be introduced to the system and get the opportunity to join.

HeartMath teaches relaxation techniques to combat the stress associated with the body’s natural “fight or flight” mechanisms – reducing adrenalin levels and helping people manage their psychological state and improve performance.

Supporters say the benefits include improved memory, better decision-making, greater creativity and better behaviour and performance.

HeartMath has been used by students to combat exam stress, by sportsmen such as golfers Ian Woosnam and Nick Dougherty and by firms including BP, Unilever and Hewlett Packard.

Ashley Barrowclough, partner at Rogers & Co, said HeartMath had also been used to tackle behavioural problems in children, by pregnant women to reduce foetal stress and to improve productivity and motivation and reduce absenteeism at work.

HeartMath was also used to redress one of the hormonal imbalances in the body implicated in chronic diseases affecting industrialised society, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.