I think that by the time we get to great grandparents, they did get more exercise. Sure, they might have been able to afford a single car, but lots of living ha

I think that by the time we get to great grandparents, they did get more exercise. Sure, they might have been able to afford a single car, but lots of living had more activity. Housework, for example, took way more work while our great grandparents were young adults and children. Cars themselves were harder to drive with no power steering or brakes (and the early power-assists were very poor by today's standards). Office jobs had a lot more 'work' by their very nature simply because everything was on paper - there is a lot of little back and forth walking, bending, and lifting there. As children, they would have played outside lots and helped around the house (since house chores were more work). I think there were a lot of these little things that mean that yes, our 'sedentary' grandparents and great-grandparents were a lot more active just because of how life was.