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Archiver > GENBRIT > 2005-07 > 1120249331


From: "Chris Westmoreland" <>
Subject: RE: Medical 'family history'?
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2005 21:22:22 -0700
In-Reply-To: <1120208921.18651.0@despina.uk.clara.net>


Liz [mailto:] wrote
>
> Do others have a similar generational change in family health? I have a
> suspicion that a proper statistical investigation would show that those
> born in the first 20 years of the 20th century have shown a dramatic
> decline in health and longevity from their immediate ancestors .... but
> that is based on only anecdotal evidence.
>

Here's an interesting finding from amongst my lot.

One of my great great grandfathers had 9 sons. One drowned when he was 19,
and of the remaining 8, 4 went to work in breweries, and 4 did not. Of the 4
that went to work in the breweries, my great grandfather died at 66, the
next long lived of these died at 49. Of the 4 that worked elsewhere, the
youngest died at 71. My grandfather (brewery) died at 60, his brother
(non-brewery) lived into his 80s. My Dad (non-brewery, apart from late in
his working life, when they were dry) is still going strong at 80+, his
brother (brewery) died before he was 60.

In another line, my great great grandfather lived to within 3 months of his
century. To the end, he smoked a clay and whet his whistle with a quart of
beer before he got out of bed. He'd spent much of his life as a carrier,
delivering beer, and as a consequence, drank to excess for much of his life;
it just went with the job. It wasn't unknown for him to be found in the
stable asleep on the cart the next morning. I thought of this man, when, a
few years ago, William Hague was disbelieved and roundly mocked when he said
that he would drink 16 pints a day when he had a summer job as a drayman. As
someone who has known many draymen who worked before the Health and Safety
legislation of the 1970s, I can vouch for 16 pints a day being an achievable
quantity over a working day (followed by a bit of socialising at the club)
that started at 06:00. They managed to keep the lorry on their own side of
the road too.

> We are now said to live longer ..... so I'm intrigued to think that
> there was perhaps a downward blip before modern technology corrected it
> ......
>

We may live longer, but it's mainly due to modern medicines and surgical
advances, and despite our lifestyles, not because of them.

We appear to have become complacent with it as well. The furore over MMR has
apparently resulted in an increase in the diseases that the vaccination was
designed to prevent. TB is also making a significant comeback.

Well, that's cheered me up no end; I think I'll close on that happy note.

Kushti Bok,

Chris Westmoreland



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