Flat bars can help give a better view, but that’s by way of sitting up a bit. That’s doable with drop bars, too. At this point, though, I’ve been riding in a low, racing-oriented position for so long that I feel comfortable with my situational awareness in that position. I do feel a bit more comfortable on my more upright cyclocross bikes than the road bike, but that’s more to do with wearing a backpack, which gets more uncomfortable the more leaned over I am and the more weight I’m carrying.
I happen to prefer drop bars, though I spend most of my time by far on the hoods. Flat bars feel quite slow and awkward to me on the road, and of course I can always sit up and ride the tops if I want to chill out a bit. My commute has been 8-10 miles each way for a good 8 years now depending on the job, and isn’t likely to get shorter than that, so I want it to feel reasonably quick. I did have a flat bar commuter for a bit and it was definitely slower and less fun. When I’m not riding drops, I’m most often riding swept back upright bars, either on my e-cargo bike or on my wife’s upright city bike for short cruises around the neighborhood with the 3 y-o.
I’m not sure I follow this idea of flat bars being healthier. I’m really not clear on how riding drops would lead you to “destroy parts of your body.” I’m almost 38 and while I’m a bit thicker around the middle than I was when I was just under 30, I’m in better physical condition than I was then in most respects. My advice on keeping yourself healthy would be to find some way of building and/or maintaining strength. In my case having a baby helped a lot but that’s obviously good for a limited time… establishing a core strength and weight lifting routine is a very good idea, has more long-term utility and reliability, and doesn’t require all of the various other prerequisites of becoming a parent. Relying on sitting up and riding on flat bars to stay healthy is pretty dubious imo.
For what it’s worth while drop bars are popular on this board, I don’t think they’re an overwhelming majority here. And in the real world, most of the commuter cyclists I see are riding flats or other upright bars. So most people do share your preference. For whatever that’s worth.