City Life Affects Brain's Response to Stress

This does not really make sense considering people living in cities are exposed to more traumatic events than those living in tiny towns. More people means more traumatic events.

I lived in a large city for most of my life. Everyday there was something in the headline of the local paper. Fires, accidents, crimes and tragedy came above the fold all the time. When you are exposed to traumatic events that often, it does tend to get to you.

When you are exposed to traumatic events in combat, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of evidence suggesting veterans from big cities fair any worse than veterans in rural areas. When it comes to helping the rural veterans, they find it hard to get to the help they need.

Social stress from living in a big city? Yep. I came from Massachusetts and back home, we're all in overdrive with a lot more to worry about.

City Life Affects Brain's Response to Stress
Study May Help Explain Why City Residents Have Higher Rates of Depression and Anxiety
By Brenda Goodman
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

June 23, 2011 -- The brains of people who live in cities react more strongly to stress than those who live in small towns and rural areas, a new study shows.

The study is published in the journal Nature. It may help explain why mood disorders like depression and mental illnesses like schizophrenia are more common in city dwellers than in those living in less densely populated areas.

Researchers in Germany and Canada recruited healthy adults who lived in large cities, moderately sized towns, or smaller, rural communities. Scientists recorded their brain activity as they tried to solve difficult math problems while being criticized for their poor skills. It's a test that creates social stress as people struggle, but fail, to prove their mental abilities.

As they were stressed, people who were currently living in cities had more activity in an almond-shaped area of the brain called the amygdala than those who lived in towns or rural areas.

The amygdala plays important roles in fear, emotional processing, and self-protection. It has been linked to scores of mental illnesses including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, autism, and phobias.

People who grew up in cities also had an interesting response to the stress. Even if they were no longer living in an urban area, their brains showed higher activity in a region called the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps to regulate the amygdala, suggesting that the early-life environment helps to shape the brain's stress response in important ways.
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City Life Affects Brain's Response to Stress