Interesting piece.

Sorry for plug, but here is my recent contribution to debate with a book for over 40's, albeit exercise info can apply to all.

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XW22JDY

OK, well done. Healthier and stronger men help all of us as dads and partners , I reckon

I'm not a fan of ninja warrior, but watch it from time to time to beat boredom. And almost makes one want to leap from the chair and participate/swing from the rafters, replete with a Tarzan yodel!

A healthier lifestyle can't include tobacco and binge drinking! Moreover, must include preventative medicine, some of which like, chelation therapy, HRT and hyperbaric chamber assisted, oxygen therapy must be put back on the table.

HRT reducing muscle wasting and some arterial disease?

I see that some therapists are coming round to the idea of HIV preventive medicine. As opposed to treating a rapidly mutating virus after it has infected a host!

Oxygen therapy should be standard practise in stroke and spinal injury rehab and within hours, not days of the injury!

And hydrotherapy included with the first evidence of returning mobility. As opposed to shrugging shoulders, claiming that's millionaire medicine and allowing the patients to consequently be permanently condemned to a wheelchair or assisting living in a highly profitable, bleed them till they die, subsidised retirement/doped to the eyeballs, nursing homes!?

And consequently, doubled/tripled demands on the public purse!

At the other end, we could do worse than once again make sports in school compulsory, along with cadets, replete with annual/winter survival training, boot camps!

And perhaps some junior road runs/bike races that include sponsorship and prize money/scholarships etc. The like of which, might have been available, when we still had an auto/malven star manufacturing industry!
Alan B.

From pre-Kindy on, BOTH sexes are taught, forced, to sit and for increasingly longer periods. In primary schools eagles-eyed teachers are alert to ban those 'boy' games, always dangerous, such as playing chasing games. Games that girls liked too.

Scare campaigns and poor transport planning see the RV shuttle-service for children. Now extended to secondary school years.

That is enough examples, now the question, "Are our bodies evolved for that?".

Discuss kilojoule-dense foods next, or simply cut to the chase and admit that government, we, are only papering over problems that arise very simply and expectedly from the modern environment not suiting us. The costs are apparent.

First, design kindys and schools that are suitable for young humans and do something to convince supermarkets to encourage purchase of veggies, beans and lean meats of course.

It is simple. The forces, lobby groups, against change are complex.

As physiotherapist, I've long come to the conclusion that health is ontological, a function of being, and, although health tools are invaluable, is ultimately a function of community leadership. Community leadership confers empowerment, social network, and leadership training on individuals and families. Without this foundation, it is very difficult for a person to access tools in any adequate manner. With this foundation, the many health behaviours that are 'no-brainers' become readily incorporated in lifestyle, ie nutrition, fitness, hygiene, sociability, lifelong education, and creativity. These also support the health advancement behaviours for the next generation.
Men speaking 'shoulder to shoulder' is not where we should aim the development of conversation for health advancements. Health advancements are likely to be greater in men who can deal up front with their vulnerability and problems. This is a cultural transformation that gets back to male leadership in community. Like many social issues we are confronted, those of us who are empowered fall short of our leadership roles by setting a low bar for the disempowered. Men don't need a low bar. To be men, we need the bar to be set above our current achievement and we need to be challenged to step up to that, again and again.
I now have a personal mission to bring men into contemporary dance / physical theatre work. There are several reasons I think this will be important for men: maintaining optimal physicality over the lifespan; employing constant learning and creative process (very important indicator in health over 85 yo); emotional, creative expression, and vulnerability (not just 'the weather') in a social group; and fostering discourse in community through performances. Dance can meet whatever physicality men of varied ages and capacities can bring to it in the same space and provide challenge to both in terms of physicality and engagement. Last year I found 5 other men in my rural community willing to design a theatre around their identity. We brought anvils, hammers, continuous chains onto chains.
There is no end to physical, emotional, psychological, creative and learning mastery through dance. Dance is ontological.
cheers
Owen

Owen59,

Do you see any prospect for men, women too, to get some of their mobility and flexibility (not to mention psychological) needs met through redesigning schools and workplaces?

Things as simple as desks for standing to take an instance?

What I am talking about is environments that suit humans. Nudging people to use the steps, while providing the escalator. With respect, you seem to be talking about add-ons, externals. Exercise as some commodity and yes there is profit in it. But external doesn't address the cause. It sort-of treats consequences.