Username:
Password:
Log me on automatically each visit
 
 
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:28 am
Post a new topic Post a reply  [ 1 post ]   
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:57 pm 
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Wed May 27, 2015 10:20 am
Posts: 515
It is a common myth to think that modern man is living longer than ever before and this is often stated in conjunction with the assertion that we are eating better and being medically treated better than ever before to result in our longer lives. I say to this, wait a minute and lets observe the facts! In the book, SEX AT DAWN written by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, they come to some very different conclusions.

They write that the average life expectancy of our ancestors often quoted by the experts are derived from erroneous calculations distorted by high infant mortality rates.

When this factor is eliminated, we see that prehistoric humans who survived beyond childhood, typically lived from 66-91 years with higher levels of overall health and mobility than we find in most western societies today.


Quote:
It's a game of averages, you see. While its true that many infants and small children died in prehistoric populations--as indicated by the larger numbers of infant skeletons in most burial sites--these skeletons tell us nothing about what constituted a "ripe old age". Life expectancy at birth which is the measure generally cited is far from an accurate measure of the typical life span. When you read, "At the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth was around 45 years. It has risen to about 75 thanks to the advent of antibiotics and public health measures that allow people to survive or avoid infectious diseases, keep in mind that this dramatic increase is much more a reflection of increased infant survival than of adults living longer.




Also keep in mind that in our prehistoric past, infanticide was much more prevalent and skews up results further with statistical distortion.

Quote:
For example, archaeologists estimated the ages at death of skeletons taken from a mission cemetery in California. After the estimates had been made, written records of the actual ages at death were discovered. While the archaeologists had estimated that only 5% had lived to age 45 or beyond, the documents proved that seven times that many (37%) of the people buried in these cemeteries were over 45 years of age when they died. If estimates can be so far off on skeletons just a few hundred years old, imagine the inaccuracies with remains that are tens of thousands of years old!



One of the most reliable techniques archaeologist use to estimate age at death is dental eruption. They look at how far the molars have grown out of the jawbone which indicates roughly how old a young adult was at death. But our wisdom teeth stop erupting in our early to mid-thirties which means that archaeologists note the age at death of skeletons beyond this point as 35+. This doesn't mean that 35 was the age of death, but hat the person was 35 or older. Some where along the line this notation system was mistranslated in the popular press leaving the impression that our ancient ancestors rarely made it past 35. Big mistake! A wide array of data sources including the old testament, etc point to a typical human life span of anywhere from 70-90 years.



While there is no doubt occasional outbreaks of infectious diseases in prehistory occurred, its unlikely they spread far, even with high levels of sexual promiscuity. It would have been nearly impossible for pathogens to take hold in widely dispersed groups of foragers with infrequent contact between groups. The conditions necessary for devastating epidemics or pandemics just didn't exist until the agricultural revolution. The claim that modern medicine and sanitation save us from infectious diseases that ravaged pre-agricultural people is like arguing that seat belts and air bags protect us from car crashes that were fatal to our prehistoric ancestors.




Finally the conclusion to the secret of long life:

Quote:
If you want to live long, sleep more and eat less. To date, the only demonstrably effective method for prolonging mammalian life is severe caloric reduction. These studies lead to the slacker-friendly conclusion that in the ancestral environment where our predecessors lived hand to mouth with a certain amount of dietary inconsistency--perhaps exacerbated by sheer laziness interrupted by regular aerobic exercise--would have been adaptive and even healthy. To put it another way, if you hunt or gather just enough low-fat food to forestall serious hunger pangs and spend the rest of your time in low stress activities such as telling stories by the fire or napping and playing with children, you'd be engaged in the optimal lifestyle of human longevity.

Top
OfflineProfileReply with quote
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post a new topic Post a reply  [ 1 post ] 
 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum
 
Search for:
Jump to:  
cron