The worst time to be alive in human history, according to science

All things considered, we as a civilisation live in a fairly well off and prosperous time.

Of course, on a daily basis we have to deal with the likes of Donald Trump, Brexit, Putin, terrifying wildfires and painfully antiquated ways of thinking.

But relatively speaking, it's probably safe to say that we're all living in a fairly well off time period.

Keep that in mind because as some people curse this day and age to the wind, historians think they've pin pointed when the absolute worst time to be alive was.

You might expect it would be somewhere between women being accused of witchcraft and being hanged or burned alive out of fear, or when the world was ravaged by the bubonic plague.

You'd be wrong, because it was actually in the year 536.

Researchers found that when looking back at history, for completely unrelated information about the European monetary system, they discovered that the year 536 was particularly horrifying for a number of reasons.

An article written in Antiquitydetails that in their search for information they were made aware of insights into a shocking number of natural disasters and climate changes in the time period.

Michael McCormick, author of the study told Science Magazine:

It was the beginning of one of the worst periods to be alive, if not the worst year.

That's right, it was because of absolutely drastic changes in weather and an up tick of storms and wind that lead to widespread famine and some of the coldest temperatures ever seen before in certain areas.

At one point, which many would these days even assume was the end of the world, the sun was blotted out by an obscure sort of gas that brought prolonged darkness to many areas.

The culprit, it seems, was a volcano in Iceland whose eruption contained volcanic glass which is found in areas of Europe.

To give an idea of this, here are the words of Byzantine historian by the name of Procopious:

For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year.

Yikes, what a time to be alive.

Maybe with this kind of horror in mind we can have a care to our own problems of the day.

More: 10 incredible photos of defiance from history