As an urbanite, I enjoy many things about city living, such as walking to quaint, local coffee shops and restaurants, attending cultural events, and meeting people from diverse backgrounds. But even though living in a metropolis can be exciting, there are some downsides.
For instance, heavy traffic makes it challenging for me to socialize with my suburban friends. Additional frustrations include crowded public transportation, noise pollution, and having to pay nearly $15 to see a movie.
These might sound like small annoyances, but studies show that the hustle and bustle of urban life can actually take a toll on our physical and mental health. Here’s what you can do about it.
Mental Toll From City Buzz
While living in a metropolis has its perks, it can take a big toll on our mental health.
Compared to rural residents, researchers have found that urbanites are 21 percent more likely to have anxiety disorders and 39 percent more likely to have mood disorders. A 2017 meta-analysis also found that rates of PTSD, anger management, and generalized anxiety disorder were higher among those living in urban areas.
The same was true for more serious psychological disorders like schizophrenia and paranoia.
So, what’s the explanation? According to psychiatrists, urban living gives the brain a workout, which alters how we cope with stress.
Here’s how it works: The constant stimulation of city life can propel the body into a stressful state, known as the fight-or-flight response. That can make us more vulnerable to mental health concerns, such as depression, anxiety, and substance use. This might help explain why 19.1 percent of Americans live with an anxiety disorder, while 6.7 percent have depression.
City living can also chip away at your psychological immune system, which can be precarious for those with a family history of mental illness. According to psychologists, this environmental stress can increase your risk of developing a psychiatric condition, such as anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder. MORE HERE
I like where I live and going to any big city scares me. I live rural and enjoy the outdoors every day. Long walks, see wildlife, meet people along the way. Going to town isn’t a challenge, but like any “city” we have our fair share of pan handlers and homeless wandering around. There’s no Utopia any where – I don’t care where you live.
And yet the left is constantly pushing for more urbanization. Pack too many rats in a cage and they start attacking each other and eating their young. Sound familiar? I’ll take my relaxed suburban life any day.
Regarding Goldenfoxx’s pan handler problem, it urinates me off that people give money to these leeches. If you don’t want pigeons crapping all over the place quit feeding them.
I like living where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came . . . and lucky I get to do it again after some years in ‘city’ So I learned about art at the museum whoop ti do, I could have just read it in a coffee table book. Also lucky my adult kids have followed us and so I get to see them once in awhile. They grew up in suburbia and love small town/rural and are ‘conservative’ too–good kids and don’t live in our house either. Jobs are booming for a change MAGA!
Shorter: City people are bat sh!t crazy.
Duh. You jackasses live in a completely artificial environment crammed asses to elbows with each other. No wonder you all crap on cop cars.
……. oh all right. Jim lives in the city while Joe enjoys bucolic bliss.
Liberals are bred in big cities. Enough said, huh?
If you move away from the big city and miss it, just go poop on your sidewalk and reminisce to your hearts desire. I’ll pass.
Jim died.
His urban life style killed him.
People are pigs.
The more you have in one area, the piggier it gets.
living in the insane urban world leads people to believe that the world will end in 12 years. Living in the country confirms that this isn’t true. Nothing much has changed for the last 12 years. Nothing much will change in the next 12.
There is a self inflicted mania in the city.
No thank you.
But the Soylent Green is much more affordable in population centers.
if city living is so great, why do all city dwellers dream of a weekend place in the country. i live in paradise and have no desire to go into the city.
And why do they leave the city in packs to bicycle in packs where i live?
Just yesterday there was a pack of 30-40 riders holding up 30-40 automobiles as they entered the small town near where i live. They weren’t single file.
Such insufferable assholes are these city people. Imagine them crammed together in their urban habitats. Worse than submarine living. OK. Nothing is that bad. But there are parallels.
Oops. PHenry here.
This article is extremely one-sided and biased. I hardly ever think about stalking and dismembering the people in the next apartment, and the voices in my head frequently tell me to calm down and that the drones following me aren’t real. There isn’t anything deleterious about big city living.
Sitting at stop lights are the biggest waste of time.
I have one….and don’t have to go through it. (go around it)
City life is for the young, for singles. It’s for meeting new people and learning.
At some point, you want all your new phones and new cars to work the same; you get bored having to learn the newest version of MSWord and Microsoft operating system.
Then, it is nice to walk into a restaurant where everyone knows you like a lot of citrus with your water, and they are glad to see you. ….Lady in Red
@.45-70: “Sitting at stop lights are the biggest waste of time.”
there are 2 stop lights in the county where I live, and that is probably one to many.
Otherwise, life sucks out here in the boonies- please everyone should just stay in the cities. Don’t worry, we’ll send you food.
A very wise man once told me that if European cities were bombed off the map, their countries would be destroyed. If USA big cities were bombed, our country would be stronger.
Jeffery Dahmer loved urban life for the cuisine
I live 15 minutes from anything I need and 45 minutes from anything I would want. I see fields and meadows from my front porch. There are deer, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, geese and even an occasional bald eagle visiting my property. At night I can look up into the sky and see stars and planets. Sometimes I can faintly see the milky way.
I took the train to NY city once. While waiting for my next train I walked up the stairs out of Penn station and looked around. It was loud and smelly. I was surrounded by tall buildings that were all dingy gray. The sidewalk and street were covered in filth. Why would anyone want to live there?
I routinely see that in my wife – she’s from rural NE. And I can’t wait to retire to someplace quiet, either!
Cities were formed for mutual defense and common resource storage.
(2 prerequisites for “civilization”)
6000 years has made them a habit.
Ant colony.
Bee hive.
Wasp nest.
Termite mound.
Now, in the nuclear age, they are concentration targets.
Any city on Earth will start to feel the effects of hunger after 3 days of restricted food import – unless, of course, that city is provisioned against that. Cities are means of control – see how the negroes and mexicans are constrained in their life choices by their voluntary submission to ghettoization? And Yuppies, Puppies, Chinks, and Wogs? Don’t misunderstand – it isn’t some sick, nefarious plot by the minions of Satan – it is simply the nature of humanity to draw together.
It’s no wonder that those humans are distressed: They live in dangerous environs, and no amount of police state can keep them safe – least of all from those very same police who are supposed to be protecting them – nor from the thuggery of their neighbors.
The totalitarians did well to capture our cities with their promises of Utopia while delivering Dystopia! A ready well of potential (and actual) slaves – who will toe the totalitarian line for bread.
izlamo delenda est …