If you die before you grow old, you're probably going to do so as a child. If you survive birth, childhood and are otherwise healthy, you're chances of growing old are pretty good no matter where and how you happen to live.
That's why life expectancy is so high now in the western world, it's not that people are growing far older than they did in the past or elsewhere, children just die very rarely and don't pull down the average.
It's not about life expectancy it's about your body not breaking apart.
She's freaking logging at 70+, look at how quickly she cuts the fire wood with a bow saw try it it's not easy especially in the cold when the wood is frozen solid and the saw gets stuck every time you lose the stroke rhythm.
I've done several "treks" under less extreme conditions with modern equipment and it's bloody hard even basic camp management (Find dry fallen wood, cut it into fire wood drag it to the camp site, go get water from the stream drag it to the camp site (uphill always ;), fish/hunt, prepair your food that's easily 6-8 hours a day even with help, she's doing that and more everyday...) takes most of your day and it's exhausting and this was as a healthy male in his mid 20's, she's full on homesteading pretty much alone in extreme conditions in her 70's while taking care of a 1 legged man her age if that isn't impressive please let me know what is...
I'm definitely impressed and certainly wouldn't be able to keep up.
However I'm not sure whether this is because what she's doing is an incredible accomplishment or I just treat my body horribly. She has probably more than 60 years of experience doing these things and kept in perfect shape her whole life. Just imagine what we might be capable, if we kept our bodies equally well in shape, now and in the future.
Maybe I should feel less impressed and more ashamed at myself or equal parts of both.
What is so impressive about the way she lives? It was considered a normal living 100 years ago. The conditions are not that extreme (Southern Russia, same latitude as Berlin).
She gets regular help from others, and she hasn't been shy to ask for help. Also, she made several trips to nearby towns when she needed medical help.
The climate varies greatly between different places on the same latitude. She seems to live near Abakan, Russia at about 53 deg. N; according to Wikipedia, this has average daily means ranging from -18.3 C to +20.0 C. Compare with Manchester, UK (53 deg 28'N): about +4.5 C to +16 C.
A low of -18 C isn't uncommon, but a daily mean of -18 C across a whole month (day and night) is pretty cold! It's colder than any major North American city except Fairbanks, at least. The other cities I think of as being cold all have significantly higher daily means in their coldest month: -11 C in Anchorage, -10 C in Minneapolis, Montreal, and Ottawa, and -4 C in Chicago.
Sure, it gets cold in the winter there, but, say, -20C is not too cold to get out of the house to get some firewood nearby.
I walked at -20C to school as a kid, and it was ok. I wouldn't go out when it was -30C, but considering the mean of -18C, -30C would be rare, and almost never in the middle of the day.
Bottom line: people have lived just fine for thousands of years in much harsher climates, for example, a thousand miles north from where she lives.
-18 C night and day is not that cold. It does not stop any daily activities - like kids playing outside. Going near -30 C and below - with regular "urban" winter clothing - that starts to modify ones routines. Don't look at the statistics, observe the real effects.
It depends on a few other factors, among which are wind and humidity. -18 C in Munich is lovely for a stroll. 8 C on the west coast of Ireland is omfg.
My dad used to put this as "the older you get, the older you get." At first I thought this was just dad humor (as in, "the more you weigh, the heavier you are") but he explained the that the saying referred to life expectancy going up the longer you survived common "bottlenecks". Obviously at some point the longer you live raises the chances of death but earlier in life, as you get past birth, childhood diseases, the higher risks of adolescence, and work- or war-related injury/death as a young adult, your statistical life expectancy goes up.
That's why life expectancy is so high now in the western world, it's not that people are growing far older than they did in the past or elsewhere, children just die very rarely and don't pull down the average.