Posted on 12/30/2019 6:15:56 AM PST by Reeses
More than half of the world’s population—4.2 billion people—live in cities. This number is expected to rise, with 68 percent of the global population estimated to live in urban areas by 2050.
Among the world’s megacities—defined as urban areas with more than 10 million inhabitants—Tokyo, Japan, is the largest, with 37 million citizens. It is followed by Delhi, India (29 million), and Shanghai, China (26 million). In the UK, after several decades of rural-to-urban migration, 83 percent of people live in urban environments—and London has become the first European megacity.
The detrimental effects of urban living on physical health have long been recognized, including higher rates of cardiovascular and respiratory disease. More recent, however, is the revelation that urban living can also have adverse effects on mental health.
The risk of developing depression—the most prevalent mental disorder in the world, characterized by low mood and feeling helpless—is 20 percent higher in urban dwellers than those who live outside the city.
Meanwhile, the risk of developing psychosis—a severe psychiatric disorder associated with hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and disorganized thought—is 77 percent higher in urban than rural dwellers.
The risk of developing a generalized anxiety disorder, a state of mind characterized by feeling anxious and a sense of impending danger or panic, is also 21 percent higher in urban than rural dwellers.
Critically, the longer you spend in an urban environment during childhood and adolescence, the higher your risk of developing a mental illness in adulthood. This “dose-response” association provides indirect support for a causal relationship between urban living and mental illness.
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
People who are on antidepressants, schizophrenic or bipolar meds should not be allowed to vote.
Some cities are better than others.
When I have to go to L.A. I make it quick. If I still lived there I would be so depressed. The decay is everywhere. Sumpins gotta give. I hope I’m home in the mountains when it does.
Get on just about any inner city loop, and you will soon see a few suicidal/homicidal drivers.
I absolutely do believe this. But I also believe there are other factors. I think geography is also a factor. Specifically, what the weather is like in your part of the world. I would rather live in a city in a semi-Tropical environment, then in a suburban or rural area, in a colder climate. For me, depression comes with winter. The cold, the early darkness, the long stretches of overcast days. I have had to adopt lifestyle changes in order to overcome the seasonal funk. Meditation techniques, frequent trips to the beach even in bad weather, dietary adjustments. If I had the means , I believe I would constantly move and live between the United States and Australia, I require warmth and light. A lot of people do.
That's very true, but all cities vote majority Democrat these days. It's not that cities have changed but that Democrats now cater to city dweller interests, such as fighting the heat island effect, reducing soot and pollution, population control via abortion, and replacing mass escapees with imported Democrats to kite their structurally unsound pension systems.
I know I was depressed when I received my property tax bill.
What is a city?
It’s a huge sea of strangers.
Why the hell wouldn’t you be anxious and depressed?
.
The Burbs aren’t much better, most people don’t even interact with their neighbors anymore.
Completely unwarranted conclusion.
Not even to protect their Second Amendment rights?
Many young women move to the big city to meet their rich prince charming, but after a few years end up turning into jaded, worn out, damaged goods.
I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. So none of the above applies to me.
Yes, they are. No matter where you live.
That was all by design; the balkanization pushed by the media divided society into so many fragments people feel they have little in common anymore. They’ve divided by gender, race, political affiliation, breeders vs. childless, straight vs. LGBTABCDEFG, dog owners vs. cat owners, the list is endless...
The elites intend to keep it this way; it allows a small group to control much larger populations.
I’d think people in cities would have less strain because while they forfeit physical safety, privacy, etc., they tend to be paying other people (landlords) to deal with the day-to-day issues of homeownership.
Yes, the infamous sardine theory.
That is why my long term goal is a cabin in the rocky Mountains somewhere. So if I yelled as loud as I could the only person that would hear me would be my wife.
True peacefulness. Except for the wife of course. : )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.