Typical aging follows a predictable pattern. Beginning in one’s early thirties, a man notices a gradual decline in energy, vitality, exercise capacity, and recovery ability. This is almost always followed by unfavorable changes in body composition. This decline continues, often accelerating, into one’s forties and fifties. During these years, a number of common, lifelong medical issues usually surface. These include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and early heart disease. Take a stroll into any local Walmart, and you will see numerous examples of men just like this.

In the sixth and seventh decades, the proverbial wheels start to come off. Heart attacks, strokes, knee or hip replacements, cardiac bypass surgery, chronic pain, and a laundry list of prescription drugs are the norm.

Many men must continue working to keep their health insurance, without which they could not afford the litany of drugs they need to temporarily stave off an early death. These drugs often make them feel worse instead of better. These men are tired, grumpy, and often quietly miserable. Most haven’t had a decent erection in close to a decade. These men are one serious medical event away from death or permanent disability requiring full-time assistance either in a nursing home or from family members. They are hopelessly trapped in the healthcare system. They are in the “belly of the beast” and will remain there for the rest of their lives.

The traditional approach to managing chronic disease has been to intervene only after the disease has developed. This intervention often consisted of the application of expensive technological approaches that attempt to repair the damage once it has begun. The cost of caring for chronic illness has been estimated at $1.5 trillion, which accounts for three-fourths of annual healthcare spending.

While huge improvements in health have been made over the years as a result of these technological advances, this has been offset by increases in physical inactivity, unhealthy eating, obesity, and tobacco use. Many of the conditions that dominate healthcare spending are preventable.