before modern medicine, how did medieval people live to their 80s? How did they survive common conditions that could result in death like open wound infection, tooth infection, diseases, unhygienic food and water?
In: Biology
The short answer is that they didn’t. People lived far shorter lifespans in the past – life expectancy of 80+ has only become normal in the last century or so.
You can essentially split medicine into two buckets – before and after germ theory/antibiotics. There isn’t a specific single “antibiotics invented today” date; they were developed over the beginning of the 20th century, with contributions by a handful of different people from different countries at different times.
Before germ theory, things were iffy. Ancient people figured out some things – that rotten teeth needed to be pulled out, that broken bones needed to be bound and set, that food should not be kept near excrement. Wounds were cleaned as best they could be, and often stitched up with needle and thread.
In terms of food and water – making sure food was properly cooked and kept (relatively) clean was figured out at an early stage (since not doing so kills you). Water was iffy, and many cultures invented things like beer and wine, which were safer to drink as the alcohol content killed bacteria.
Infection was utterly deadly, though. Without antibiotics, ancient people had no defence at all against infection, other than food, water and rest.
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