Molly Webster

So the idea being that in olden times, we used to die around menopause.

And so this long post-reproductive life is just because now we live longer than we used to.

Right.

But it turns out, actually, that's not the case.

Which part?

All of that is not true.

None of that is true.

In ancient times, people also lived to be about 70.

Really?

Yeah.

I just thought it was like the only people who did were like royals who were highly attended to.

No.

So there's this interesting thing where, like, we get these average life expectancy numbers.

And the average is taken to account the fact that people die before, like, the age of five because they die in childbirth.

They die of infant diseases.

Oh, it's like a skewed average.

Yeah, exactly.

So if you account for that, you see that many women were, in fact, living 20, 25 years, 30 years after they could no longer reproduce.

So humans have been going through menopause, like, for the entire history of humans.

And back to Lucy, she says that going into menopause for her was pretty brutal.