Americas lifespan has doubled since 1776 experts reveal what changed

Americans today live roughly twice as long, on average, as they did when the Declaration of Independence was signed.When the nation was founded in 1776, life expectancy was around 35 to 40 years old, historians estimate.However, someone who survived childhood in colonial America often lived into their 60s or even 70s.Today, the average lifespan is about 79 years old, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The improvement in lifespan over the centuries has been largely attributed to reduced deaths in infancy and from infectious diseases, multiple researchers have stated.

Advances in sanitation, clean water, nutrition, vaccination and medical care have also contributed to lower mortality rates.“Much of this vast discrepancy is related to the extremely high rates of infant, childhood and maternal mortality,” Dr.Omer Awan, physician and professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.“Childbirth was dangerous, and without antibiotics and vaccines, many infectious diseases, such as measles, smallpox and pneumonia, were deadly,” he went on.

“Now we have cleaner water and sanitation, vaccines and antibiotics that have significantly prolonged life.”Advances in treatments of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes have also significantly prolonged life, the Harvard-trained doctor noted.According to the CDC, improved prevention and treatment of high blood pressure has helped reduce deaths from heart disease and stroke, two of the nation’s leading causes of death.Mia Kazanjian, MD, a Stanford-trained body and breast radiologist with an interest in longevity who is based in Greenwich, Connecticut, attributes the shorter life expectancy in the 1700s to suboptimal sanitation, poor hygiene and limited medical treatments.“Many babies and children died from infections like dysentery, diphtheria, scarlet fever and pneumonia,” she told Fox News Digital.Children who s...