Sylvan Sanity

When I moved from the big city to the country, over a quarter-century ago, most of my urban companions and cohorts thought I had worked a few screws loose in my cranium. They were puzzled by my desire to trade a good job and the cultural assets of the city for the loneliness, hard labor, and fiscal uncertainty of the boondocks. I could only respond unconvincingly to them that it was just something I had a strong urge to do. How could I persuade them, when I was almost as naïve about sylvan life as they were? A few of them seemed to have a wee bit of appreciation for my courage, but most of them, I was sure, considered it a foolish move, and probably expected me soon to retreat back to the comforts of city life.

At the time it seemed to me that urban life was endangering my mental and physical health, and a move to the boondocks could be a healing step for me. As it has turned out, life out here has certainly been a physical challenge and finances have had to be carefully managed. Nonetheless I've never experienced any desire to go back, and I've felt that my health definitely benefited from the move. But how do I really know that's true? I can't live out two simultaneous separate lives and then later compare them. Besides, there's a tendency for one to make a life-changing decision and then later justify it as a wise move.

Now, after all these years, I get some kind of independent verification. Unbiased scientific research has recently shown that “the brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas,” according to a study just conducted at the University of Heidelberg. I'm willing to allow that German brains are wired similarly to American brains, so the results should apply to me too.

The German researchers noted that previous research findings (before they began their study) had already shown that city life increased three mental disorders over country life by: (1) 21% for anxiety disorders, (2) 39% for mood disorders, and (3) 100% for schizophrenia. Those numbers alone impress me! But what the Heidelberg professors wanted to know is why this was so. That was the aim of their research.

In these days when brain scans are routinely done for most any human study, the German scientists examined the brains of two groups of volunteers (city dwellers and country folks) who were put under artificially-induced stress in the lab. They found that two areas of the brain were far more active in city dwellers: the amygdala and the cingulate cortex. The amygdala is the danger-sensor of the brain and is linked to anxiety and depression. The cingulate cortex is important for controlling emotion and dealing with environmental stress.

The researchers noted that these areas of the brain are very sensitive to developmental stress, and that cities are “known for a greater demanding and stressful social environment” than rural locations. Other similar studies have demonstrated that stress is aggravated in the city by “social threats, lack of control, and subordination.”

So maybe I am better off having come out here! Certainly, I recognize that all types of personalities do not suffer from living in the city. Some thrive on the excitement of urban life. The frantic pace there, however, certainly seemed to be increasing my stress level. It's nice to discover all these years later that I may not have had a screw loose, but just needed the peace and quiet of the sylvan life.