If the story is on the insurance industry, it will probably deal with policy discounts to nonsmokers and gym users. The Science section will bring up the localization of the fatness gene or some fabulous new vitamins. The only competition comes from the People In the News , but since half of any celebrity interview is spent on discussing how he or she exercises and diets, the line is hopelessly blurred. Just as the line is blurred between the workplace and the gym. Not for nothing do the big corporations include gym rooms in their suites.
Healthy workers are better workers, health insurance discounts, yadda yadda yadda.
Making money and creating the body beautiful are one. The last of the desks is on its way to the Smithsonian. We receive as yet unsubstantiated reports of gymnasia in Ivy League alumni clubs where you can watch McNeil-Lehrer and Wall Street Week while you pant on the treadmill. Where butts are firmed up to the sounds of Stravinsky. Where Stendhal has been spotted on exercise-bike lecterns.