Why I live in the Berkshires….
Friday, December 29, 2023. Another thoughtful piece of research from Germany…
Major depression, mood disorders and anxiety are 56% more common in the city…
This particular study indicates that walking in nature for one hour reduces activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain vital for processing stress.
This study had 63 people either walking in the Grunewald forest in Berlin, or down a shopping street busy with traffic.
Brain scans afterwards showed reduced activity in the amygdala among those who walked in the forest.
However, to be fair, the city walk, though, contrary to expectations, did not increase amygdala activity.
This German study is in line with many, many others suggesting that being close to nature is beneficial to mental health…
Many of these studies, though, are correlational, meaning that it is difficult to show the direction of causation.
Dr. Sonja Sudimac, the study’s first author, explained:
“…so far the hen-and-egg problem could not be disentangled, namely whether nature actually caused the effects in the brain or whether the particular individuals chose to live in rural or urban regions.”
Living in an urban area is a well-established risk factor for mental health problems.
Major depression, mood disorders and anxiety are 56% more common in the city.
As if that wasn’t enough already, the longer people live in the city, the more likely they are to suffer from schizophrenia.
Researchers have been complaining about urban living and degraded mental health for decades. One study has suggested that living in the city compared with a rural environment accounts for about 33% of all occurances of schizophrenia (Van Os, 2018).
Natural benefits of living in nature…
In contrast, exposure to nature is consistently linked to mental health benefits.
To list only a but a wee few…
Connecting with nature curbs anxiety.
Being in natural setting is linked to higher overall satisfaction with life.
Living near green spaces is so highly correlated with lower risk of dementia, it has shaped the aestheics of modern architecture.
Being enveloped by nature seems to fulfill deep psychological needs for many humans.
There are many, many more benefits including feeling more alive, being more creative, reducing stress, improving memory and even relief from ADHD symptoms
Given the sheer heft of this sort of research, it’s no surprise to me that humans living in rural areas have significantly less activity in their amygdala than city dwellers.
Still, we need to be fair about what exactly is the effect that is being observed.
We must be careful to note that urban environments may not necessarily provide additional stress, said Professor Simone Kühn, the study co-author:
“Interestingly, the brain activity after the urban walk in these regions remained stable and did not show increases, which argues against a commonly held view that urban exposure causes additional stress.”
Perhaps it is more accurate to say that the city is not doing you any harm in this regard, neither is it doing you any good — unlike natural environments, which are having a positive effect.
Final Thoughts…
What I love most about where I live is a peculiar feature of my home.
It is deepy nestled in the woods of Cummington, surrounded by thick woods on 3 sides. Unlike most rural homes, there is only one road in, or out.
The serenity and the silence also make for excellent and memorable in-person Marriage and Family Therapy Weekend Intensives for my clients.
Do you need to get away and work on your relationship? …Let me help with that.
Be well, stay kind, and Godspeed.
RESEARCH:
Sudimac, S., Sale, V. & Kühn, S. (2022). How nature nurtures: Amygdala activity decreases as the result of a one-hour walk in nature. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01720-6
Sudimac, S. & Kühn S. (2022). A one-hour walk in nature reduces amygdala activity in women, but not in men. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:931905. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.931905
Cabiró, M. P., Sudimac, S., Stobbe, E., & Kühn, S. (2023). Urbanization is positively associated with global perceptual style. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 91, 102100. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494423001482
Sztuka, I. M., Örken, A., Sudimac, S., & Kühn, S. (2022). The other blue: Role of the sky in the perception of nature. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:932507. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.932507
Tawil, N., Sztuka, I. M., Pohlmann, K., Sudimac, S., & Kühn, S. (2021). The living space: Psychological well-being and mental health in response to interiors presented in virtual reality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23), Article 12510. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312510
van Os J, Pries L-K, ten Have M, et al. Evidence, and replication thereof, that molecular-genetic and environmental risks for psychosis impact through an affective pathway. Psychological Medicine. 2022;52(10):1910-1922. doi:10.1017/S0033291720003748
