So right Miradus. Wait till you hit 70! You can see the downslide taking place in the mirror almost weekly.Originally Posted by Miradus
Land Owner
So right Miradus. Wait till you hit 70! You can see the downslide taking place in the mirror almost weekly.
Land Owner
Not to thread drift, Housewolf, but you bring up a valid point. Statistics can be very misleading. Example, we are told that the lifespan of our ancestors was much shorter, stating the average life in colonial times through the civil war era was decades shorter than it is today. That may be true if you take an average of a population's lifespans. In researching genealogy, I find that to be false. Many, if not most of adults whom lived in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, if you factor out the mortality of those that did not make it to their early twenties due to childhood diseases, the number is not that different than today.
Also, look at pictures of Civil War vets in old age at some of their reunions. In a photo of 50 people you might find 1 or 2 overweight men. Most were pretty healthy till the end.
Banned
Of course the only ones who showed up at their reunions were both (a) alive and (b) healthy enough to make the trip, so there's a bit of a self-selection thing going on. While I agree that obesity was a lot less back then, even so, most of the really fat guys would mostly have already died. Honestly, that's true even now. If you look at a group of reasonably healthy old people--for instance, at outings from retirement communities--you'll see a lot of skinny old guys past 80, and far fewer truly fat old guys of the same age.
But your overall observations are right. A lot of the life expectancy in the past was depressed by infant and child mortality. Once you got to be 18 or 20, chances of living to a decent old age were a lot better. (Just like now, if it comes to that. One funny corollary to this is that every year older you get, your life expectancy increases. I suppose we should find that comforting.)
That said, something else that was more pronounced in the past, but still true today, is that longer life expectancy was associated with being better off or from the "higher classes." One interesting way they noticed this was to compare the age at death of Congressmen and (especially) Senators since the beginning of the Republic, since they tended to be wealthier, better-educated etc., than the normal farmer/worker/whatever. As I recall, they found that their lifespan truly had increased over time, but not as dramatically as the average lifespan, and not even as much as the average lifespan for the population as a whole who had lived past childhood.
Tree of Liberty Supporter
Just wait till you start DRAGGING 50....
Pushing it is WAY easier.
AUnut
J
Pro is the opposite of con, that is easily seen. So if progress is to move forward, what does congress mean? - Nipsey Russell
Judge
Excellent.
I got up to 337 and worked down to 250. I literally lost 12" off my waist, 8" off my chest and 5" off my neck of all places. Managed to keep it off too = been about 12 yrs now.
Remember the Prepper's Motto: "Panic early and avoid the rush!"
Everything I post is Fiction and shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone.
88 = Heil Hitler
Banned
Except in rich countries, it's the opposite. Certainly in the US, obesity is becoming almost a class marker, rather as smoking has become over the last 30-40 years.
People in rich societies are obese not because they are personally really well off, but because those societies are able to produce very cheap high-calorie food, even if the overall nutritional content of that food is questionable. When a burger and a bag of fries from a fast-food place costs less than what you could make yourself, and saves all the shopping time and prep time to boot, and when the fast food has been deliberately engineered to be "tasty," then it's not a surprise what the natural outcome will be. And people who are less prosperous are going to be a lot more vulnerable to that. As I say, obesity is becoming a class marker. For middle- and upper-middle class people, especially those in cities, it's become more of a thing to be careful with the quality of the food they buy (e.g., organic produce, meat from free-range GMO-free animals, etc.), and also the ability to discern "better" foods and to prepare your own food has become not just a point of pride, but something that's more expected and appreciated among one's social peers.
Land Owner
Back in the day you had to be pretty tough. My 8th gr grandfather was the first known English colonist to become a centenarian. 1598-1698. In his early 50's he was attacked by several Indians in his cellar. He picked up a half full barrel and drove them off. He was feared and respected by them for the rest of his life.
Banned
Cool story. Which brings up another factor in what you found in your own genealogy: there really is a genetic predisposition for old age, so if your forebears weren't caught up in plague or ended up starving or freezing in the wilderness or massacred by Indians (or redcoats or escaped slaves or whoever), then they might have been living significantly longer than their neighbors who weren't as genetically lucky.
Land Owner
I agree with your assessment, Mugwump. I am lucky to have access to old family letters from the 1830's on, along with much documentation from Ancestry.com. The colonial records, in my case from New England, are amazing. Several genealogists from the 19th century spent their lifetimes researching old colonial town and church records. Fortunately, much has been transposed to the internet.
Along with German and Norwegian additions to my family in the 1850's, the longevity of many is incredible. Going back 6 or 7 generations, most made it to their late seventies / early eighties with several making it to their mid nineties. I can't verify it 100%, but I have a line in my ancestry that contains "the Elder John Gardner of Rhode Island. He lived to be 103, and on his 100th birthday mounted his horse, unassisted and rode." My maternal grandfather lived to be 96 and his wife 94. My mom died at 94, sister 98 and the baby, my Aunt Peggy will be 96 in August. They all looked great and were mentally alert to the very end. Not one was overweight, and they had a good diet their entire lives. I am the oldest of 4 children and in fairly good health. My sister, the healthiest of all of us, an athlete whom never smoked and was a heath nut died at 49 of breast cancer. Go figure. I could stand to lose 20 lbs.
Congressman
I have a picture of myself at 2 years old, in that picture are Both Grandmas, Both Grandpas, Both Great Grandmas, and Both Great Grandpas.~! Not too many can say that`! My Dad is still living and just turned 90 this Feb. ~! And I am pushing 70 in a year from now.
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