Why did people look older in the past?

Why did people look older in the past?

Why we humans make people appear older in the past when they were actually

When leafing through an old family photo album or looking at classic television programs, they may have been confused and wondered why the apparently young people looked much older in the past. Is it just your perspective or does it have a basis in reality? Interestingly, this idea has a certain validity according to a video from Vsauce. While part of this perception is due to the fact that we associate older appearance with "aging", numerous factors such as the standard of living, progress in healthcare and the choice of lifestyle also play an important role in the way we perceive the age of people from the past.

Life in the past differed significantly from our life today, especially when it comes to living standards and health care. A higher standard of living and better health care naturally affect the aging rate. For example, a person who works in a modern, comfortable office environment is likely to age more slowly than a Victorian chimney sweep who pursues his daily smoking habits. Remarkably, these changes themselves are reflected in aging patterns over a relatively short period of time, for example a few decades.

A comprehensive study from 2018 examined the connection between organic age and chronological age between 1988 and 2010. The biological age, which is determined by indicators such as blood pressure and lung functionality, has been compared over the years. The study revealed significant differences in aging over this short period of time, whereby newer generations appeared biologically "younger" than their predecessors.

The study says: "In the past 20 years, the biological age of the US population for men and women seems to have dropped in all age groups. However, the extent of the change was neither the same in men and women nor age." The following was shown in the study:

- young men experienced clearer improvements than young women, which may have to reduce early adult mortality and then to reduce the gender -specific mortality gap.
- In the case of older adults, the improvements were greater than with younger ones.
- Lifestyle factors such as smoking had a significant impact on these results. The difference between the biological age of men and women decreased, since the smoking quota decreased in men and increased in women.
- The use of medication also led to health improvements.

However, these factors could not completely explain the observed changes in the biological age. The researchers also suggested possible explanations of how better prenatal conditions, conditions in early life and a reduction in the prevalence of infectious diseases.

In addition to health factors, our perception of age is significantly influenced by prevailing styles and personal prejudices. According to Vsauce, our tendency to connect outdated fashion styles with older age groups plays an important role. So when we see photos of young people from past epochs that wear "old" styles, we tend