# Getting old today vs. 150 or 200 years ago **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653 "2026-10-07T16:46:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/1 "2026-10-07T16:46:03Z")
One of my random shower thoughts: Glad to become “old” (whatever that means to you) in 2026 and not in 1826 or so … just the thought of the avg. guy/gal not having reading glasses (and much to read to begin with) at their disposal, makes me slightly out-of-round … How did “ **getting-old** ” work for people - say - 45 and up in those times, and what it did to their self-esteem and -perception … is beyond me … ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/2 "2026-10-07T16:53:40Z")
> The average life expectancy in the United States around 150 years ago (in the 1870s) was approximately **38 to 45 years** at birth. Wow, that’s scary, so I think “old” was 40 years of age. That was past the average just like, say, 80 is past the average today. So, I’m thinking that if one’s health is good, “old” isn’t until 80. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/3 "2026-10-07T16:56:00Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > The average life expectancy in the United States around 150 years ago (in the 1870s) was approximately **38 to 45 years** at birth. Bear in mind that a large reason why average life expectancy was so low at that time was due to a much higher number of deaths during infancy and childhood. If one made it to adulthood, one could usually expect to live at least into your 60s (barring a severe illness or injury), and often to your 70s and 80s. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/4 "2026-10-07T17:00:49Z")
the “Average age” issue is misleading. Many,many people died young–as babies, or children. But if you survived past 20 or so, you were likely to live almost as long as us modern folks. Look at famous people from history: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams lived into their 80’s, George Washington till 69. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/5 "2026-10-07T17:01:48Z")
plus - and that is a mathematical truism … obv. every body dying age 0 or 1 draws the average dying age severely down … So assuming (for this example) that the avg. was 50 years … and with a fairly newborn dying (age 0) you’d need 5 people living to 60 to just compensate for that one baby dying (which obv. was quite a frequent event) - that’s just the way avg. work … ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/6 "2026-10-07T17:22:43Z")
Yeah, you guys are right. Childhood mortality back then was appalling. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/7 "2026-10-07T17:39:21Z")
I suspect that – in addition to much reduced child mortality – what we now experience with aging, compared to 150 to 200 years ago, is how much more possible it is to still be living a healthy and active life in one’s 50s, 60s, and even 70s and 80s. We can thank advances in medicine and healthcare, and lower pollution (esp. compared to the Industrial Revolution era) for much of that. Even if one has a chronic medical condition (e.g., diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, etc.), that can often now be managed via medication, treatments, and medical devices (eyeglasses, hearing aids, etc.), and does not have to condemn you to a reduced quality of life, or an early death. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/8 "2026-10-07T18:06:34Z")
The increase in life expectancy does not have to do entirely with less people dying when they were young. It also has to do with less people dying when they are middle-aged or old. Medical advances over the past 200 years or so have reduced the chances of dying for any age. A newborn now has a greater chance of living to 10. A 10-year-old has a greater chance of living to 20. A 20-year-old has a greater chance of living to 30. A 30-year-old has a greater chance of living to 40. A 40-year-old has a greater chance of living to 50. A 50-year-old has a greater chance of living to 60. A 60-year-old has a greater chance of living to 70. A 70-year-old has a greater chance of living to 80. A 80-year-old has a greater chance of living to 90. A 90-year-old has a greater chance of living to 100. A 10-year-old has a greater chance of living to 20. A 10-year-old has a greater chance of living to 20. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/9 "2026-10-07T18:07:46Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > How did “ **getting-old** ” work for people - **say - 45 and up** in those times OP: I think you will find most people here don’t consider someone 45 or so to be old. When people could no longer work and needed care they mostly lived with their relatives (with a few in county poor farms or charitable institutions); the nursing home is a modern invention. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/10 "2026-10-07T18:48:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Bear in mind that a large reason why average life expectancy was so low at that time was due to a much higher number of deaths during infancy and childhoo Also, infectious diseases took a lot of people. The important word is _average._ Otherwise, the biblical allotment was three score years and 10, which is 70. If you survived all those other hazards. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/11 "2026-10-07T19:47:56Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > just the thought of the avg. guy/gal not having reading glasses Warby Parker says that " **1500s:** Basic, mass-produced reading glasses became common enough to be sold by [street vendors](https://www.warbyparker.com/learn/when-were-glasses-invented) in European towns, meaning they were widely used by the general literate public over 500 years ago." But yeah, there were a lot more people with severe visual impairments a couple hundred years ago. Cataracts are treatable now, but weren’t then. Glaucoma is now screened for and can be treated before blindness occurs. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/12 "2026-10-07T20:20:38Z")
so - how would an artisan have worked at that time, with poorer eye-sight, etc… I assume the whole “_2 or 3 generations living/working under the same roof_” was fairly relevant in this context, as the older ones would move into tasks that did not need such critical eye-sight/physical strenght. > [@PastTense](#): > > OP: I think you will find most people here don’t consider someone 45 or so to be old. > > When people could no longer work and needed care they mostly lived with their relatives (with a few in county poor farms or charitable institutions); the nursing home is a modern invention. the reason I (arbitrarily) chose 45 is that is the age where age-related short-sightedness often hits (at least in my case) … and that was MY first tangible moment of perceiving “bodily decay” that made me think “am I starting to get old?” … so, yeah a pessimistic reading would be: the beginning of the end starts age 45ish ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/13 "2026-10-07T21:03:18Z")
Even in Old Testament times, Solomon states that “the span of man is threescore year and ten, or fourscore if he be strong”. The age at which people die of old age basically hasn’t changed for all of human history. What’s changed is, first, much lower death rates from everything other than old age, and second, a lot more people maintaining a much higher quality of life for longer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/14 "2026-10-07T21:20:40Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > the older ones would move into tasks that did not need such critical eye-sight/physical strenght. A lot of skills don’t require perfect near vision. And a lot of handiwork (sewing, for example) is as much a matter of [muscle memory and sense of touch as it is eyesight.](https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt:20180108-hpichswp-0005) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/15 "2026-10-07T21:33:33Z")
You don’t even have to go that far back to see the difference. In the first season of **The Golden Girls** the characters (not the actresses) were the same age as the characters on the last season of **Sex and the City** sequel **And Just Like That**. The perception of people in their 50s has shifted in recent times. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/16 "2026-10-07T22:07:38Z")
At the meager age of 56, I can tell you that I’ve had 4 or 5 major procedures that have massively improved my chances of not just living longer, but doing to comfortably - As a teenager of the 80’s, I’ve had a dozen or so moles removed, about 40% of them pre-cancerous - I’ve had a CPAP keeping me from snoring for the last 5 years or so. Keeps my organs from being slowly starved of oxygen over the years…and keeps my wife from smothering me in my sleep. - Been taking blood pressure medication to reduce the damage to my circulation and reduce stroke risks - GLP-1’s have helped me reduce weight and inflamation - But the biggest one was treating my venus insufficiency…the veins in my legs were cauterized, forcing the other veins to step up to keep circulation going…the end result reduced my clot risk, but it and the less-than-sexxy support hose, kept the blood moving round my body. my Toe stopped feeling like it was getting gouty, my knee stopped hurting, my balance improved, and I found I could stand a whole lot longer on my feet. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/17 "2026-10-07T22:28:20Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > But if you survived past 20 or so, you were likely to live almost as long as us modern folks. Yeah, but modern medicine has made 70 or 80 reachable by many, rather than a few. When I was a kid- men in their late 50’s were OLD. Many had retired, gotten the gold watch etc. That “old” came from 40 years of two packs a day, too much sun, and working hard labor jobs, instead of in an air-conditioned office. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The increase in life expectancy does not have to do entirely with less people dying when they were young. It also has to do with less people dying when they are middle-aged or old. Medical advances over the past 200 years or so have reduced the chances of dying for any age. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/18 "2026-10-08T01:03:07Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > in 1826 or so … just the thought of the avg. guy/gal not having reading glasses (and much to read to begin with) at their disposal, makes me slightly out-of-round … George Washington famously pulled out his reading glasses when addressing mutinous soldiers. > [@](#): > > Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country. > **[Statement while delivering response to the first Newburgh Address - Saturday,...](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/past-projects/quotes/article/gentlemen-you-will-permit-me-to-put-on-my-spectacles-for-i-have-grown-not-only-gray-but-almost-blind-in-the-service-of-my-country)** > > Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for, I have grown not only gray, but almost blind in the service of my country. You’d be fine. > [@chappachula](#): > > Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams lived into their 80’s, John Adams made it to 90! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/19 "2026-10-08T02:46:07Z")
My grandfather had a heart attack when he was in his 60s, and spent weeks in a hospital. He lived another 20 years, but was totally disabled. With a heart valve replacement or a bypass he might not have lived any longer, but he sure as hell would have had a better life. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653/20 "2026-10-08T15:55:22Z")
The impression I have is that it was more common in the past for the older generations to live with their younger generations in the same house or community. The older people would have had a lot more support systems around them to help them with whatever they needed and to provide a sense of purpose. Today, many older people are living a more solitary existence. They may live with their spouse, but they are far from other family members. And this is also true with the community in general being more insular these days. In the past, everyone in the neighborhood knew each other and interacted on a regular basis. Older or infirm people had a community around them to provide help. Today, that’s not the case. We hardly know the names of neighbors and barely acknowledge them in any way. That greater community sphere in the past would have likely helped with the kind of longevity we now get with medical advancements. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-old-today-vs-150-or-200-years-ago/1033653.md?page=2)