Muscles

I read an interesting article in The Economist today.

It was about men's muscles, and their evolutionary basis.

As you may have suspected, large muscles in men are an example of sexual selection, which means that they are used to attract women. They serve the same purpose as a peacock's tail or a deer's antlers.

The article also pointed out several things that I didn't know. Having more muscles means you need more calories to sustain yourself, even if you aren't exercising. The study also pointed out that men's immune systems are worse than those of women, and it becomes worse the more muscular a man is.

So, muscles are bad for your health. The article pointed out that there is probably an evolutionary struggle between having larger muscles and attracting more mates but sacrificing longevity versus maintaining longevity but requiring more time to attract the same number of mates as the muscular man does.

Of course, the article ends by pointing out that modern medicine has mostly solved the problem of the weakened immune system by allowing the muscular man to at least live to an age where he is no longer reproductively active (and therefore not of importance from the point of view of evolution), and tells the reader to “get the weights out, and start pumping iron.” :D