Living In The City May Be Hazardous To Your Health

The incessant car horns, a hot, steamy asphalt maze of streets and sidewalks, air clogging pollution, and the fast-paced life of the city can make even the most patient person skittish and stressed. In fact, the stresses of city life can be harmful to your body. Research conducted on 32 German adults using an FMRI machine, found that city dwellers’ brains react differently in two areas when undergoing stress tests.

Katherine Harmon’s article, “City Living Changes Brain’s Stress Response” indicates that in the study, the urban dwellers’ amygdala activated at a higher rate, and the amygdala is the portion of the brain where the response to threats is located. Along with this distinct difference in the brain, the research also identified that those living in cities with 100,000 people or more, have higher incidents of mood disorders (21 percent), and anxiety disorders (39 percent). The study also found that those born in the city, raised in the urban environment, and then later moved to a rural area, still had two regions in the brain with weaker connections inherent to city brains.

So where should city dwellers go to lessen the impact of the urban stress? The chirping of birds, cool grass swaying in the breeze, and the towering shade of ancient trees offers a respite from a city life full of persistent stress on the body and brain. Along with city’s strains on the human brain, nature's impact is continuing to prove an integral element for a healthier life.

Authors Cecily Maller, Mardie Townsend, Anita Pryor, Peter Brown, and Lawrence St. Leger, in their article, “Healthy nature people: ‘contact with nature’ as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations” say that natural areas, like parks, “can be seen as one of our most vital health resources.” Maller says you can avert mental illnesses and diseases with a cheap alternative to traditional healthcare by simply staying in contact with nature and limiting artificial stimulation that may actually produce exhaustion, less vitality, and an unhealthier life.

Along with encouraging calmness and elimination of stress, the subtle components of nature are felt deep inside the children and adults who experience it. Maller advises that parks and natural spaces also encourage people to relate to nature, and as a person experiences it firsthand, they find an appreciation and respect for this intimate relationship. One way to escape the city sounds and escalating tension is to take a walk; a daily walk in a park promotes health both physically and mentally.

Sources

Harmon, Katherine. “City Living Changes Brain’s Stress Response.” June 22, 2011. Scientific American. http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=city-living-changes-brains-stress-r-2011-06-22
Maller, Cecily, Mardie Townsend, Anita Pryor, Peter Brown & Lawrence St. Leger. “Healthy nature healthy people: ‘contact with nature’ as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations.” Oxford Journals 21(1). http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/1/45.full.