"We tend to fixate on the measure of lifespan, but overlook morbidity." #PumpIron

Raising the American Weakling

There are two very different interpretations of our dwindling grip strength.

We tend to fixate on the measure of lifespan, but overlook morbidity. Here, Lieberman says, the data are unequivocal. “As we are living longer,” he says, people “are also suffering from much longer periods of chronical illness as they age.” People may be living longer, due to advances in pharmaceuticals or medical care, but as he asks, “is she/he healthy?” Health, he says, “is not just life expectancy.”

Our weakening grips are, if nothing else, a corollary of an increasingly sick population. So, by all means, go to the gym, not to turn back the evolutionary tide, but for your own well-being. Evolution, as Lieberman reminds us in The Story of the Human Body, is just about passing your genes, not ensuring a long and healthy life.  “From an evolutionary perspective, there is no such thing as optimal health.”  Creating that definition is up to you.