As modern medicine has advanced, the average expected lifespan of humanity has increased accordingly.
We are now healthier and living longer lives than we have ever done in human history, which is astonishing given that we managed to accomplish this over the course of only 200 years!
For comparison, the average working woman in Victorian London would have been considered elderly at the age of 45, compared to our modern definition of 60 or even 70-years-old and above.
Since then, the goal for humanity’s lifespan presently – for those of us in the medical field – has shifted.
Rather than looking to increase our lifespan even further or achieve immortality (not that it means we have completely ceased our efforts in that direction), medical experts are now more interested in increasing our quality of life.
After all, what good is living a long life if you find yourself suffering from all sorts of medical ailments that you have to start dealing with from a young age?
For people that were born in the last century, British twin sisters Phyllis Jones and Irene Crump are doing fantastically well for their age.
The two had achieved a milestone when they both turned 100-years-old, netting themselves a celebratory birthday card from Queen Elizabeth herself, who congratulated them.
The twins have since turned 102-years-old on the 20th of November last year in their home in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire.
Both are healthy and hale, are still mentally sharp, and are fully capable of living almost entirely independently.
This is astonishing, given the various diseases, the survival rate of children, and the life expectancy of adults at the time they were born was still nowhere near the rates we have today.
The two were born during World War One, 25 minutes apart, and have put down the reason behind their incredible longevity to sheer luck and booze.
They are presently living together, assisted by some home attendants and regularly visited by their children.
Aside from the duo being a regular drinker and having a Guinness at least once a night at one point, the two otherwise don’t have any other secrets up their sleeve.
They claim that all they have done otherwise in their youth was to work hard and eat healthily, which has apparently worked in their favor since.
The twins have otherwise no apparent physical problems they have to deal with that is normally part-and-parcel of old age, such as arthritis and rheumatism.
It seems that luck is definitely involved in the good health of these two!
That said, that claim is also what plenty of other long-lived people around the globe have shared as well – just eating well and a healthy lifestyle is what they believe has taken them past the century mark.
Perhaps with some effort and lifestyle changes, this will one day be applicable to the rest of us as well.
Until then, we can only treasure and care for these long-lived individuals the best we can, seeing as they represent living connections to our history!
SEE ALSO: 109-Year-Old Woman Says That The Secret To A Long Life Is Avoiding Men
