First, ancient medical technology was much worse than it is now. In the past, many diseases were almost incurable, but with the development of modern medicine, they became curable diseases. In particular, the emergence of various antibiotics can help people fight germs, cure various diseases caused by germs, and greatly increase people's life span. For example, tuberculosis caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis was extremely difficult to cure in ancient times, but it can be cured in modern times.
Second, the poor, who accounted for the vast majority of the population in ancient times, caused various diseases due to malnutrition and poor immunity. The food of the ancients was not polluted, but because of the low productivity in the past, people didn't have enough to eat, and sometimes they had to eat chaff and swallow vegetables, which led to lack of nutrition, sallow and emaciated, poor disease resistance, easy to be infected with various diseases and difficult to cure, thus shortening their life span.
Third, the overwork of the ancients also led to premature aging. When the ancient people were busy with farming, they were busy with all kinds of farm work every day, just to get silkworms into the fields, and they had to bear all kinds of labor assigned by the government during the slack season. Coupled with poor food or even insufficient food, they have to work hard, and some even collapse in their thirties and forties, making it difficult to live long.
In a word, the ancient people had poor living conditions, poor medical conditions, and had to engage in heavy labor, so they would age prematurely and their life expectancy would be far less than that of modern times.
The main reason is the backwardness of technology and medical care. How many people died of tuberculosis? In A Dream of Red Mansions, neither Sister Lin nor Qingwen died of tuberculosis. At that time, people didn't know the knowledge of prevention and isolation and disinfection. It's just a tonic. Many families just drank bird's nest soup and ginseng chicken soup, and the result can be imagined.
It is reported that the invention of penicillin prolonged human life by 20 years. What about X-rays, CT, MRI and scalpels?
Traditional Chinese medicine is extensive and profound, but it focuses on conditioning, and it is unbearable for germs and viruses, especially for diagnostic methods, which is the product of the development of modern science and technology. The body is infected with this bacteria and that bacteria. How does Chinese medicine feel the pulse? Even if it is taken out, Chinese medicine soup can't kill those bacteria, but it is clear when western medicine tests, and various antibiotics can always find results. Imagine that if Sister Lin's illness is now, any small clinic can cure it.
Judging from the history of thousands of years, it is impossible for China to close its doors to the outside world, and nothing can be cured by drinking bird's nest soup or this soup or that soup. Thanks to the progress of science and technology, human life expectancy has generally increased, and science and technology is the real primary productive force.