The best environment for a child to grow up in is often debated. Critics of an urban life often speak of the background stresses that affect city children. This belief might be validated by a new study called the “Nature Study” by the researchers from Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Quebec, Canada. Using neuroimages, the study illustrates the influence city stress has on brain function, particularly the increased incidence of anxiety, schizophrenia, and other mental disorders. The most fascinating point is that they show a stronger impact from birth to the age of fifteen.
It’s appropriate that this study was just released. With the start of summer, my son and I have been spending an increasing amount of time in the rural town of his birth, in the lower Hudson Valley of New York. The town is filled with farms, dairies, orchards and lakes. Just in the last few weeks we have picked strawberries, cherries, and raspberries. We’ve picked up our produce, eggs and meat from local farmers who take pride in their products. We’ve fished in local lakes (pictures to come in future post) and enjoyed the calm lakes to swim in and conceive new summer games. With only a few weeks I already see a difference in my son and his level of satisfaction and behavior. The one issue I see is that when it is time to return to the city he becomes anxious and tries to do everything in the last few minutes or hours. All of a sudden he begins to panic and nothing seems to be satisfying. Could there be a connection or just a coincidence? I’m not entirely sure, but I do know that I feel blessed to be able to give my son the best of both worlds, as well as the shortcomings.
For now I hope to continue to be able to take my son out of the city on a regular basis; where he can be a carefree kid, enjoying nature and all it as to offer a child.
To read more
Original paper: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352/full/nature10190.html
Sources citing the paper:
City dwellers more sensitive to social stress than country folk
