Written by Dr. Rachita Narsaria, M.D. | The 13th century fabulist Odo of Cheriton once said, “I’d rather gnaw a bean than be gnawed by continual fear”. This phrase from the classic story The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse seems to deliver a message far ahead of its time. The town mouse would rather live in security than pursue a dream of opulence. Now, scientific research is backing the wisdom of this old fable.
Professor Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg and her team at the University of Heidelberg scanned the brains of over fifty healthy participants residing in both metropolitan cities and the rural countryside. They were given complex and taxing mathematical problems to solve, for the purpose of creating a stressful environment. In addition to doing this work, the participants were continuously given negative feedback about their poor performance. An atmosphere of stress was maintained. As a result, the participants averaged a meagre 25-40% on the tests.
The findings were published in Nature. They showed that two regions of the brain, the amygdala and the cingulate cortex, were more stimulated in participants who lived in the city versus participants who lived in rural areas. The amygdala is an almond-shaped area in the brain, known to form memories of various emotions. Memories of fear and anxiety associated with events are processed here for future use. The cingulate cortex processes emotions, learning, and memory and is key to formulating emotion-based behaviors. It plays a vital role in depression and other mental illnesses. The over-activity of these two areas might be the reason why people living in cities have a 21% higher chance of developing anxiety disorders and almost a 39% higher chance of developing mood disorders. In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is twice as common in people who were born and raised in cities.
Being born and brought up in a large metropolitan city myself, I can relate to the findings of this study. Life in the city has its perks. Modern healthcare facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure are never far away. But there is always somewhere to go, something to do, and last-minute errands to run before retiring for the day. It isn’t that rural areas are rid of their downsides either; it’s just that the solutions to them tend to be far less complex. After awhile of living in a bustling environment such as that of the city, the brain begins to adapt to what they call a permanent “war mode”. People living in cities thus let their guard down less often and are more vulnerable to anxiety and mood disorders, compared to their peers in non-metropolitan areas.
An estimated 69% humans will reside in cities by 2050. Given the new research and age-old wisdom, it makes you wonder if living in a city is such a good thing after all.
For discussion: Do you prefer living in the city or the countryside? Why or why not?