To think people looked and felt better back in the old days vs now?

[wildernesswild]

Currently watching videos of Olivia Newton-John (rest in peace ) and I always notice people born years and years ago, maybe in the 60s/70s/80s look amazing then and now, no fakeness, I'm always told by my grandparents nobody really back in the day was majorly obese or had any mental health issues. Even the men groomed themselves and dressed amazingly.

What do we think contributes to our issues these days? Is it social media, processed food, unrealistic standards? I'd love to hear everyone's opinion

I would have said the opposite. I agree people were generally less obese, but I think they looked older quicker.

women looked middle aged and frumpy much younger.

I think clothes now are better made and cheaper, which makes teenagers more sophisticated.

and the make up! Young girls look so well put together.

on the plus side, at least no one had Botox and had that weird ageless plastic look.

No you really don't get it and you never will until you are in that position however this isn't what this thread is about.

On average we work shorter hours than we did a few decades ago, leaving more time for leisure

Not in my experience. People work stupid hours these days, many have more than one job to make ends meet, and there is more pressure on people in the workforce. "Leisure" activities have also changed. People used to play sport but that has declined as a lot of people work at the weekends and aren't available for team sports. The big leisure activity these days seems to be shopping - hardly good for people's health!

Where does that leave me, a 1948 baby! Up until the 1960s children tended to dress just like mini versions of their parents, the 1960 made clothes for young people widely available and weren't we glad!

I don't understand your point

She was a celeb. World famous actress

So she looked better than your average 70 year old does. She was pretty

There will always be beautiful people in all eras

Nowt to do with being from the old days.

People in the 50s/60s had mental health

Post war era

They didnt talk about it. There was no announcement on social media.

That's why

Y'see if you say you were born late 90's, my brain doesn't think that era when I was having lots of fun was that long ago so to me you should still be in school, you can't possibly be an adult

Prior to the 1944 Education act being implemented most people left school at 14 and started work. They were considered to be adults, and dressed appropriately. Nowadays people seem to be in adolescence until their late 20s. I had my first baby in 1962 at the age of (just) 25 and was considered an elderly first-time mother.

Mental health problems were rife in years gone by. "Shell-shocked" WWI soldiers shot for desertion, cocaine and amphetamines prescribed to run-down housewives, Princess Diana's "Instability" and funny farms etc. As for looks and grooming, modern technology and medical advancements have a lot to answer for. I was born in '79 and most people sunbathed, smoked (indoors and in cars) and drank heavily when I was a child in the 80s. All considered perfectly normal at the time.

I was born in the early 80's.

I would say 80's fashion was fairly glam for women and pretty horrific for men. Make up seemed fairy neutral but lots of it and eyes and lips both accentuated.

I was a preteen/teen in the 90's and there was quite a variation of trends 'rave culture' nice figure hugging althlesiure clothing, utility in mid 90's, weird citrus colours/silver or turquoise club wear, floaty skirts and crop tips. Make up was silvery eye shadow or lipstick and coffee shimmer. Bit more neutral at times.

I think what we have now is the best of all these things. Make up seems more neutral and there is a lot of it, but it is done in a more flattering way. I think clothing is a bit early 90's for younger kids now and i like that look. There is some fakery, but it is nothing new. I was wearing wonderbras in my teens!

I think diets are generally better. I was raised on utter rubbish food. Convenience food mainly and was fat as a preteen. Less smoking and drinking in younger generations too, so I think they look better now than back then.

Also I don't think people realise the effect of being raised by an 80s mum. My mother was in her teens/20s in the 80s. When everything was about no fat/eat skinny etc but she had a healthy upbringing.

Me and my sister both ended up with bulimia, my best friends with anorexia.

So not talk about how fat you are, only eating cabbage, slimming world etc.

That healthy, slim generation created big babies. And then they slam dunked 70% into EDs

Good. The brain isn't fully developed until 25.

I must be a similar age to your Mum, and this wasn't my experience at all. Not something I recognise.
Nor something I recognise in my dc, nieces, nephews, Godchildren, friends of dc, dcs' friends.

Can you link to the research where you are saying that 70% have Eating Disorders? As once again, not my experience in any of my social networks, nor through my work. Am wondering where that figure comes from.

I dunno, I look at pictures of my mum in the early 80’s, she’d have been mid-20’s and she looks about 47. My man wore old lady clothes and had the blue rinse from about 50. Whereas these day I think people dress in more flattering and youthful clothes. My 70yo MIL still wears jeans, if you went near her with a granny cardigan you’d get a kick in the groin 😂

I agree with a PP that this wasn’t my experience either.

Portion sizes were definitely smaller in the 80’s, in the UK there was the staple of meat and 2 veg and there wasn’t the range of fatty foods we have today. Pigging out definitely wasn’t the norm. But I never was exposed to an unhealthy relationship with my weight. Mum has always been big but she gave very few shits, and whilst we had the magazines with the skinny models, I really don’t recall any pressure on the every day woman to be stuck thin. In fact I think a ‘healthy waist’ was expected back then.

They were beautiful people anyway so they didn't represent the average joe/Josephine.

I think people look better toay, no tape worm eggs for starters.

Totally disagree. A normal working week was longer. And shopping all day in town was a common weekend leisure activity. The closure of many shops proves that is no longer so popular.
People were less fat, but there was so much smoking and alcohol consumption was higher.

Also children ate less. School meals portions were smaller as were kids meals portions. Children being fat is pretty normalised now.

As someone who was born in the UK and has lived outside the country for 25+ years since the late 1990s, each time I go back I really enjoy myself but the % of people who are overweight and look unhealthy has increased dramatically, especially young people. I agree that when I look at our photos when we were young adults in the 1980s people were generally slimmer and more relaxed. I think its many reasons: internet, lack of exercise, everyone snacks a lot more, anf eats take-out and portions are much bigger than in the past.

I think that's probably your mum I was a young teenager in the late 80,s my mum was obsessed with being slim ,and tried to impose her attitudes in me and my sister, my sister is very slim I am not ,it wasn't particularly an 80,s thing though my mum was born in 1942 ,but her mum my grandma was also obsessed by weight too. ,she was born in 1912.

Totally disagree. A normal working week was longer. And shopping all day in town was a common weekend leisure activity. The closure of many shops proves that is no longer so popular.

Not where I live -(not in the UK, but I can't believe it is that different). When I started work in 1975 an office job was usually 37.5 hours per week. It went up to 40 and now people often do work at home in the evenings as well. When people took holidays they didn't do anything work related, now it is not uncommon for people to still be available. People used to get paid overtime for work done outside normal hours, so it wasn't encouraged unless absolutely necessary. People took an hour for lunch and had tea breaks - not at their desks. Shops weren't open in the weekends when I was a child/teen so people weren't shopping then - and how does shops being closed mean people no longer shop? They've simply transferred to shopping from their sofas, which is even less healthy than wandering the streets.

I was born late 70s. Growing up in the 80s, convenience foods were definitely becoming popular. We didn't have many as my Mum was a fan of the Cranks cookbook but I had friends who only ever ate fish fingers, sausage and chips, potato waffles, findus crispy pancakes.

In the 80s you either wore minimal make-up or slathered it on like Joan Collins in Dynasty. There was a lot of very bright eyeshadow and blusher. Women in their 30s/40s/50s tended to look a bit older than now due to the way they dressed and the identikit permed hair. Ladies in their 60s/70s often had blue or pink rinses and a a shopping trolley. Older women rarely seemed to wear trousers and older men were always in shirt and tie.

My Mum was also ind the 80s eat nothing to keep slim brigade and passed on a fear of being overweight to me.

There were MH issues, just nobody spoke about them.
Less obesity because people didn't sit at desks, watch TV as much, play video games etc.
People are miserable nowadays because we are bombarded with info constantly. Our brains aren't prepped for the level of change we have had in the past 30 years.

I don't agree actually. I was a teen in the early naughties and we had shit makeup compared to now. Only one type of fake tan. No tutorials. No hair extensions.

Might seem fake but these are all the things that make me look good now!

I have seen pics of my mum and aunties in the 80s and I swear they look younger now. 80s styling is ageing.