America Shapes Up

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health problem, is down 20% since 1967. According to the American Heart Association, strokes have dropped by one-third. Life expectancy has risen to a record 73 years. The cholesterol controversy has Americans eating 6 Ibs. less beef than a decade ago. They also drink 4% less alcohol. Though smoking figures among the young, especially females, are rising slightly, 1.8 million older smokers have given up cigarettes. It is possible that no future leader will have to echo the worry of Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1858: "I am convinced that such a set of black-coated, stiff-jointed, soft-muscled, pasty-complexioned youth as we can boast in our Atlantic cities never before sprang from the loins of Anglo-Saxon lineage." Or of President Kennedy in 1960: "Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security." In a country so lately thought to be dedicated to pleasure and self-expression, that will be no small achievement.

In the meantime, consider the story of Ponce de León, who was in his 50s when he first heard of the Fountain of Youth. He had subdued the natives of Puerto Rico to become a secure but bored governor. Supposedly an old Indian slave told him of the magic water, one sip of which would reverse the terrible effects of age. In 1512 the old rascal put out with three ships bound for Bimini, the supposed location of the fountain. Ponce found only the Sargasso Sea, the islands called the Dry Tortugas and flying fish. Eight years later, convinced that the fountain was located in Florida, he set off again. This time he was killed by an Indian arrow.

Ponce de León's story used to be good for a smile. A fountain of youth? Bartender, let's have another martini. On second thought, make that a double "designer" water—Perrier, Saratoga, Poland Springs—and make it snappy; everyone must get home early. There are morning miles to run and dance classes to attend and weights to lift. These days old Ponce would have swum to Bimini and jogged through Florida. And felt better for it, whether he found that pesky fountain or not.

—By J.D. Reed.

Reported by Sue Raffety/New York and Christopher Redman/Detroit, with other U.S. bureaus