5 ms·

Life 50 or 100 years ago was a lot harsher than it is now. We have better medicine, better food and diet, better living conditions (more white collar vs. blue

Life 50 or 100 years ago was a lot harsher than it is now. We have better medicine, better food and diet, better living conditions (more white collar vs. blue collar jobs, better life balance vs. all work no play, etc.) It isn't perfect, but my life is significantly less difficult and stressful than my father's or grandfather's life.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
retrac 3y ago
Yes. Not quite the appearance one gets from aging, exactly, so much as a weathering. Sometimes literally. Sun exposure is pretty bad for the skin. The effects of certain kinds of heavy manual labour on the body are debilitating, too. You still see men and women who suffer the effects of that today in industrialized societies, but it's nothing like in the past. I've noticed that men who work hard jobs often look older than they are. They're often taking physical injuries, and may be outdoors in the sun without UV protection. They end up stooped over, wrinkled, asymmetrical, much sooner than people who aren't exposed to those kinds of conditions. And from what I can tell, the average person's working life before the mid-20th century, roughly, was comparable to today being a roofer, landscaper, warehouser, on-foot postal worker, something like that, in terms of physical wear on the body. But maybe worse.
tstrimple 3y ago
The before and after war photos of soldier where they are physically 3-5 years older but look like they have lived through at least an extra decade really drives this home.
- swagmoose 3y ago
  I've noticed this with presidents as well, the before & after pictures of president Obama looked much longer than the 8 years that had passed between them.
- antisthenes 3y ago
  War is a different beast entirely. Every year spent at war is a 3-5x of years as a civilian. Living in constant stress, fear and potentially malnutrition and disease takes a pretty big toll on you. 20-somethings begin to look like 35-40 year old men really quick.
  - tstrimple 3y ago
    Sure. I just think the same thing happens at smaller scales for folks with stressful lives who aren't living through a literal war.
pengaru 3y ago
> better food and diet We have far more processed garbage, more pesticides, more chemicals in general. I don't think it's so cut and dry in the nutrition department. I suspect it was mostly just people smoked a lot. I remember the 80s, I remember everywhere public except hospitals allowing smoking indoors still. It was a huge portion of the population that smoked, at least back in IL where I grew up. And it was often discussed about, how unhealthy certain relatives/friends were and how fast they were declining visibly for their age. There was usually an element of addiction like smoking over a pack a day implicated. Also back when I was a kid, everyone was putting on sun-tan lotion in the summer. We didn't even have sunscreen in our home. What we had instead was Solarcaine to numb the pain of sunburn. My dad worked as a concrete construction worker and by the time he retired his skin was so utterly wrecked. I don't think he ever put on sunscreen once in his life, too macho for that.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

retrac 3y ago

Yes. Not quite the appearance one gets from aging, exactly, so much as a weathering. Sometimes literally. Sun exposure is pretty bad for the skin. The effects of certain kinds of heavy manual labour on the body are debilitating, too. You still see men and women who suffer the effects of that today in industrialized societies, but it's nothing like in the past. I've noticed that men who work hard jobs often look older than they are. They're often taking physical injuries, and may be outdoors in the sun without UV protection. They end up stooped over, wrinkled, asymmetrical, much sooner than people who aren't exposed to those kinds of conditions. And from what I can tell, the average person's working life before the mid-20th century, roughly, was comparable to today being a roofer, landscaper, warehouser, on-foot postal worker, something like that, in terms of physical wear on the body. But maybe worse.

tstrimple 3y ago

The before and after war photos of soldier where they are physically 3-5 years older but look like they have lived through at least an extra decade really drives this home.

swagmoose 3y ago
I've noticed this with presidents as well, the before & after pictures of president Obama looked much longer than the 8 years that had passed between them.
antisthenes 3y ago
War is a different beast entirely. Every year spent at war is a 3-5x of years as a civilian. Living in constant stress, fear and potentially malnutrition and disease takes a pretty big toll on you. 20-somethings begin to look like 35-40 year old men really quick.
- tstrimple 3y ago
  Sure. I just think the same thing happens at smaller scales for folks with stressful lives who aren't living through a literal war.

pengaru 3y ago

> better food and diet We have far more processed garbage, more pesticides, more chemicals in general. I don't think it's so cut and dry in the nutrition department. I suspect it was mostly just people smoked a lot. I remember the 80s, I remember everywhere public except hospitals allowing smoking indoors still. It was a huge portion of the population that smoked, at least back in IL where I grew up. And it was often discussed about, how unhealthy certain relatives/friends were and how fast they were declining visibly for their age. There was usually an element of addiction like smoking over a pack a day implicated. Also back when I was a kid, everyone was putting on sun-tan lotion in the summer. We didn't even have sunscreen in our home. What we had instead was Solarcaine to numb the pain of sunburn. My dad worked as a concrete construction worker and by the time he retired his skin was so utterly wrecked. I don't think he ever put on sunscreen once in his life, too macho for that.