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I'm 50/50 on all the pop culture theories about metabolic disruptors, but there is always that.
A theory I could get behind with a lot more support is just sedentary lifestyle, and exercise, for most people, being a thing they were made to do. Most probably in gym class, which few people have fond memories of. Maybe the metabolic disruptors, if they exist, exaggerate the effect of those two factors. But I really believe those are the two leading factors.
It's so, so much harder to get in shape, especially in your 30's and 40's, after spending your 20's or god forbid your teens actively ruining your body believing you can get away with it. Shit just doesn't work. Your mobility is fucked, your knees don't work, your posture is ruined, you have no core stability. It takes like a year of what is basically rehab to get you to a point where you could do some honest to god actual exercise.
And seemingly everything about America is oriented towards making eating wrong and staying sedentary the default. Grueling 2-3 hour round trip commutes in your car due to lack of affordable housing near your work and lack of public transit. Losing 2-3 hours of every single day eats into other activities like exercising or preparing your meals, so you eat out and move less. Eating out is a race to the bottom, with the least nutritious, most palatable food being the ideal.
Circling back to how most people are inducted into "exercise", it's terrible. My experience was in elementary school we'd be let out for recess, and forced to do a lap or two around the track before we could play. It instilled a deep seated hatred of running in me. From middle school through grade 10 we had actual PE class, but it was mostly team sports and more running. Weight lifting was actively discouraged since it could stunt your growth supposedly. A concern that never applied to the underfed manlets on the wrestling teams. Probably also some bullshit safety concerns around barbells and dumbbells that don't apply to running and inflated balls. If my only choices for "exercise" were limited to what I was exposed to from grades K-10, I'd have never exercised again in my entire life.
Lucky for me I was blessed by the urge to punch people, which lead to far better life outcomes.
Average commutes are significantly shorter than that.
Yep. US average is like 20-25 minutes each way. And notably places with good public transit have the longest commutes.
Door-car-door is so much faster than door-walk-wait-bus-walk-wait-train-walk-door.
I have a pretty short commute. Usually by car, although I bike sometimes when the weather is nice. There is a bus route with stops near both ends that I've never tried because all the mapping apps tell me it'll take three times as long. The bike is faster than the bus.
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And it’s door-walk-wait-bus-walk-wait-train-walk-door that makes the commute 2-3 hours simply because that’s how transit works.
Ultimately, this is why cars make sense, even though you don’t get the 20 minutes of forced walking (going to the gym is more efficient time-wise).
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