A study in Germany has discovered what we presumed to be true: Rural lifestyles are less stressful than urban lifestyles.
In a paper in the latest issue of Nature, researchers led by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim reported differences in how the brain reacts to stress caused by other people. They "had volunteers lie in a brain scanner and solve math problems," which they expected to be easy but turned out to be hard, and a researcher "criticized their poor performance, saying it was surprisingly bad and disappointing, and telling the volunteers they might not be skilled enough to participate," Malcolm Ritter of The Associated Press reports.
Participants in cities with populations over 100,000 "showed more activation of the amygdala," part of the brain that reacts to environmental threats, "than participants from towns of more than 10,000 and those in turn showed more activation than people from rural areas," Ritter writes. While the study didn't answer why, researchers speculated that the results could stem from "the stress from dealing with other people," Ritter reports. Elizabeth Phelps, a New York University expert in emotion and the brain, who was not involved in the study, told Ritter, "These results are interesting but preliminary. . . I think it's worth investigating." (Read more)
In a paper in the latest issue of Nature, researchers led by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim reported differences in how the brain reacts to stress caused by other people. They "had volunteers lie in a brain scanner and solve math problems," which they expected to be easy but turned out to be hard, and a researcher "criticized their poor performance, saying it was surprisingly bad and disappointing, and telling the volunteers they might not be skilled enough to participate," Malcolm Ritter of The Associated Press reports.
Participants in cities with populations over 100,000 "showed more activation of the amygdala," part of the brain that reacts to environmental threats, "than participants from towns of more than 10,000 and those in turn showed more activation than people from rural areas," Ritter writes. While the study didn't answer why, researchers speculated that the results could stem from "the stress from dealing with other people," Ritter reports. Elizabeth Phelps, a New York University expert in emotion and the brain, who was not involved in the study, told Ritter, "These results are interesting but preliminary. . . I think it's worth investigating." (Read more)
No comments:
Post a Comment