“We die in more numbers and at a younger age than everywhere else in Australia apart from the Northern Territory,” Charles Clinic Heart Care cardiologist Dr Geoffrey Evans said.

Rates of cardiac disease and death across Australia are falling, but Dr Evans fears Tasmania could buck that trend and start going the other way.

“Our rates of cardiac mortality haven’t fallen much at all and a lot of other disease states are the same.

“I see that we are now the fattest state in Australia, our rates of smoking might actually be going up, our rates of diabetes are rocketing. I can actually see the potential for Tasmania to start going back up again, which is a disastrous outcome.”

Heart Week 2018 begins on Sunday and runs until May 6, focusing on the benefits of physical activity in improving health and preventing heart disease.

The Heart Foundation’s new campaign – Don’t get the Sits – is intended to remind Australians that low levels of physical activity are bad for their health.

Tasmanian chief executive Graeme Lynch said regular physical activity helped build the heart’s strength, making it more effective in pumping blood and oxygen around the body.

“Physical activity is much better for you than you might think,” he said. “It is medicine for both the mind and the body.

“Being active can reduce your risk of developing heart disease by 35 per cent, reduce blood pressure, help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce your blood cholesterol, prevent or help you better manage your diabetes, prevent or improve symptoms of depression and reduce your risk of developing dementia later in life.