I’ve read that many professional athletes gain a ton when they quit playing. Even a respectable level of working out and exercising can’t approach the massive exertions demanded of a life on the gridiron.
I’m thinking the recent explosion of monstrous obesity in recent years is a combination of the internet, proliferating cable channels, handheld electronic entertainment doodads (and the commensurate lack of sleep and correspondingly deranged appetite), the microwave and the disappearance of family dining.
TV, Fast food and junk food have been around for a half-century, it’s these recent developments that have made the difference.
>I’m thinking the recent explosion of monstrous obesity in recent years is a combination of the internet, proliferating cable channels, handheld electronic entertainment doodads (and the commensurate lack of sleep and correspondingly deranged appetite), the microwave and the disappearance of family dining.<
So many people have desk jobs so they get no exercise. Add that to the fact that we Americans can no longer let our kids out to play for the day, and your post is very true.
Not to mention the fact that every blasted packaged food is now loaded with sugar and corn syrup.
Professional athletes, on average, die younger than other Americans. A combination of post-career obesity, career injuries, and drugs (performance enhancers, pain-killers - as professional athletes have to play through pain, and so-called recreational drugs, including alcohol) all contribute.
Oddly the best predictor of early death in a professional athlete is left-handedness. There aren’t enough good data out there to determine whether left-handedness is a risk factor for the general population, but left-handed baseball players die on average eight years younger than right-handed baseball players.