Study: City Living Causes Stress

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Sometimes city life can make you feel crazy. Well, it may be more than a feeling, according to new brain research. The Washington Post says scientists have concluded that city dwellers process social stress differently than those who live in rural areas, hyper-activating a part of the brain that is overactive in people with anxiety disorders. Further, the study found that when people raised in large urban areas were subjected to stressful situations, an area of the brain sometimes associated with schizophrenia became overactive. Researchers say their findings are preliminary but believe that city dwelling can actually cause a person’s brain to act differently.

Read an abstract of the study, published today in the Journal Science.