"But We Live Longer Today"

Whether a population is living longer or not is determined by the average lifespan. That's calculated by adding all ages at death in a group and dividing by the number of people. For example, deaths in a population of three at these ages: 50 + 60 + 70 ÷ 3 = 60 years average life span.
 
That has increased over time and is commonly attributed to modern medical measures.
 
 
HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS
The average lifespan was shorter in the past when life was difficult and dangerous. Hunting, gathering, farming, and the common hand-to-mouth existence were not like the ease and plenty of modern life.
 
Hard toil from sunup to sundown wore down and weakened bodies. Starvation, insect-infested crumbs, moldy potatoes, attack from humans and other critters, injury, and disease were constant threats. No medical measure could have changed that.
 
In earlier centuries, people did not retire, nor were there assisted living facilities. People lived in crowded, vermin-infested, unsanitary cities lacking plumbing and clean water. Some believed demons caused disease, it was sinful to bathe, and godly to keep the "unclean body" unclean.
 
 
MOMS AND KIDS
Pregnant moms toiled in the fields and might even give birth there, hoe in hand. The meager and often toxin-laden diet they consumed did not result in a quantity or quality of breast milk.
 
 If there were no other lactating human breasts available, infants were held to animals to nurse. Or, animal milk, soaked in a rag, was squeezed into a baby's mouth. Lacking animal milk, prechewed human food was fed mouth-to-mouth to the infant. Also, a formula of baked flour, bread crumbs, and boiled water was fed by bottle with an animal's teat stretched over it.
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High infant mortality was a part of life back then. It has not been established that this was due to the absence of the 24 injections babies now receive in their first two years, ERs, or neonatal ICUs.
 
 
WHY AVERAGE LIFESPAN HAS INCREASED
In pre-modern populations, the average lifespan was very low because both infants and adults died early. For example: Deaths at 2 + 18 + 40 = 60 ÷ 3 = 20 years average lifespan.
 
Even in 1900, the average lifespan was only 47. Today it's about 73. That's primarily because infant mortality has decreased by some fifteenfold since 1900.
 
Infants have fared better in modern times. Adults have too because of the ease of life, the ready availability of adequate and safe food and water, refrigerators, decreased physical stress and danger, and public hygiene created by utility infrastructure.
 
So yes, today the average lifespan has increased, but modern medicine cannot lay claim to that success any more than a rooster can boast responsibility for a sunrise. On top of that, despite consuming more and more money, modern medicine is one of the leading causes of death. 

The fall of the great plagues

(McKinlay. J. R. and McKinlay. S. (1977) The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 55 (3): 405-428.)
 
The unsung heroes of increased average life span are food truckers and plumbers. Like a cheerleader taking responsibility for a team win, modern medicine just happens to be at the right place at the right time in history.
 
 
MAXIMUM LIFE POTENTIAL
For humans, the maximum life years are believed to be about 115-120 years. It has not changed and cannot be credited to modern medicine.
 
The world's longest-lived people--those in "Blue Zones" like Okinawa, Sardinia, Ikaria, Nicoya, and Loma Linda--share similar habits: natural foods, daily movement, close social bonds, low stress, pace of life, and minimal dependence on medications. Most elders in these places reached 90-100+ before modern medicine ever touched them.
 
 
THE TOLL OF MODERN LIFE
If one considers quality of life, that is, life lived free from debilitating disease (disease that people believe medicine will prevent or cure), we're headed in the wrong direction.
 
Before 1900, atherosclerosis (heart attack) was practically unheard of. Obesity, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, autoimmunities, and the whole range of modern-day degenerative diseases sucking the life out of people and the economy were rare. Extant primitive societies today, given adequate natural food supplies, do not suffer from these diseases as we do.
 
Although we have more years to live today, we have less good life in those years. We are a society of walking wounded from chronic degenerative diseases and the adverse reactions listed on drug package inserts.
 
In the meantime, the focus of medicine has become keeping people alive in a hospital bed as long as possible.

Modern medicine has its place, but it's not the foundation of longevity. The true keys are simple and timeless--real food, regular movement, sunlight, rest, loving relationships, curiosity, challenge, reason rather than beliefs, and self-responsibility.

Health isn't prescribed. It's earned by living life as if thinking matters.