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Scientists have confirmed what every urbanite has long suspected – life in the city is more stressful.
Researchers have shown that the parts of the brain dealing with stress and emotion are affected by living among the crowds.
The findings help shed light on why those who are born and raised in urban areas are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and schizophrenia than those brought up in the countryside.
The team of international scientists behind the finding are unsure why city life is so bad for the nerves.
However, past studies have shown that exposure to green space reduces stress, boosts health and makes us less vulnerable to depression. The findings come from the brain scans of 32 healthy volunteers from urban and rural areas.
Dr Jens Pruessner of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Quebec, who helped carry out the study, said: ‘Previous findings have shown that the risk for anxiety disorders is 21 per cent higher for people from the city, who also have a 39 per cent increase for mood disorders.
‘In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is almost doubled for individuals born and brought up in cities. These values are a cause for concern.’
Dr Pruessner and colleagues from the Univerity of Heidleberg in Germany monitored the brain activity of adult volunteers while they carried out mental arithmetic puzzles under time pressure.
The functional magnetic resonance imaging scans revealed that the brains of those living in cities reacted differently to stress, the researchers report in the journal Nature.
(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
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科学家们证实了城市人长期以来的疑虑：城市生活压力更大。
研究人员发现，在拥挤的人群中生活会影响大脑中处理压力及情感的区域。
该发现有助于解释为什么相对于在乡村里长大的人来说，在城市中出生长大的人患焦虑症、抑郁症和精神分裂症的可能性更大。
研究该现象的科学家来自不同国家，他们目前还不清楚为什么城市生活会损伤大脑神经。
但是过去的研究显示，多接触绿地可以减轻压力、增强体质、并能降低患抑郁症的风险。研究人员对来自城市和乡村的32名健康志愿者进行了脑部扫描。
魁北克道格拉斯心理健康研究所的詹斯•普鲁斯纳医生参与实施了该研究。他说：“之前的研究显示，城市人患焦虑症的几率要比乡村人高21%，这些人有情绪障碍的可能性也比乡村人高39%。”
“另外，在城市中出生长大的人患精神分裂症的几率几乎是乡村人的两倍。这些数据令人关切。”
普鲁斯纳医生和来自德国海德堡大学的同事们让志愿者在指定时间内进行心算，与此同时他们观察了这些成人志愿者的脑部活动状况。
研究人员在《自然》杂志中写道，这些功能性核磁共振成像扫描图显示，在城市中生活的人对压力的反应与乡村人不同。
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