Does city life make you sick?

The social environment has a significant impact on health

10/17/2011

More and more people around the world are living in an urban environment, while the rural population tends to decline. For the first time in 2007, more inhabitants were registered in cities worldwide than in rural areas. Demographers refer to this development as so-called „urban turnaround“, which is accompanied by the phenomenon of rural exodus.

According to the experts, an end to the trend is not foreseeable so far, and so more and more people are moving towards the big cities worldwide. However, this can sometimes have fatal consequences for the health, because the social environment plays in the opinion of the head of the Central Institute for Mental Health in Mannheim (ZI), Prof. Dr. med. med. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, in the occurrence of various diseases an essential role. For example, numerous studies have shown that people with mental health problems are more at risk or that they have an increased chance of developing high blood pressure in city dwellers. In turn, high blood pressure has effects on the entire organism and the onset of other complaints, especially in the cardiovascular area (eg heart attack). According to the ZI expert, people living in the countryside live on average much longer than the city dwellers.

Numerous disease-causing factors in the cities
In many countries, hopes for better employment opportunities, in particular, are forcing people to settle in one of the rapidly expanding cities. However, this has some negative consequences for the health. Already in June, the research team led by Prof. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the Central Institute of Mental Health, together with colleagues from McGill University in Montreal, published for the first time concrete study results that showed an increased risk of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders or schizophrenia in the big cities. According to the researchers, it can be said that as the size of the place of residence increases, so does the risk of disease. Various factors such as noise pollution, air pollution (eg particulate matter pollution), the narrowness of the development, the poor light conditions and social stress play an essential role. The respective risk factors were examined in numerous previous studies separately as well as in interaction with each other thoroughly scientifically - with alarming results. So the noise alone can be enough to sustainably weaken the immune system. Especially at a volume of 55 decibels during the night, noise disturbs the sleep rhythm, which in the long run causes an increased risk of heart attack, according to the experts. According to the researchers, this effect also occurs when those affected do not feel disturbed by the noise.

Social stress increases the likelihood of mental illness
With regard to the increased social stress to which city dwellers are regularly exposed, Prof. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg explained that this also has negative consequences for health and that urban dwellers tend to be more susceptible to psychologically stressful situations. In their own research, the researchers of the ZI were able to prove that city dwellers had on average a significantly higher activity of the amygdala and the so-called cingulate cortex (part of the frontal lobe in the brain) than the study participants from rural areas. As Prof. Meyer-Lindenberg explained, are „these two regions in the brain are particularly susceptible to stress.“ According to the expert, the increased activity makes it clear that the people living in the city are much more sensitive to stressful situations. In addition, according to Prof. Meyer-Lindenberg, the altered brain activity could also help to explain the demonstrably increased risk of mental illnesses of city dwellers.

Hypertension due to air pollution
Scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen have already commented on the health problems caused by air pollution and particulate matter pollution in urban areas at a US symposium held in May 2010 „American Thoracic Society“ presented in New Orleans results that establish a clear link between the occurrence of hypertension and air pollution. It was a health-damaging effect even with particulate matter pollution, which were well below the prescribed legal limits had been found, according to the then statement of the study director Barbara Hoffmann.

Overall, there are numerous health risks associated with life in the city, which are unlikely to attract attention in individual cases, but have a significant effect on the health of city dwellers. According to the experts, since the risk of disease increases with the size of the city and the duration of life in the urban environment, this should be taken into account when choosing where to live. Also, a more detailed analysis of the causative factors in the cities in the future, the risk of disease could be significantly reduced by urban planning measures, so that in the end brings the city life much less disadvantages for the health. (Fp)

Read about:
Higher risk of depression in the city
City life increases stress susceptibility
Psychosis risk: city people fall ill more often
City metropolises pose health risks

Picture: Gerd Altmann