Over the last decade, more and more people have been moving to big cities and leaving quiet rural towns for a variety of reasons, including career possibilities, cultural attractions, higher education, diversity, and convenience. They provide a concentration of jobs in diverse industries, top-tier universities and colleges, an abundance of cultural attractions, superior transportation systems, greater retail alternatives, and a thriving nightlife. Yet, residing in a big city also comes with its share of difficulties, including higher living expenses, an increase in noise and pollution, and a greater sense of social isolation.
Moreover, living in large communities can lead to “stimulus overload,” according to psychologist Stanley Milgram. In turn, the fight or flight response, a physiological and psychological response that gets the body ready to fight or flee from perceived danger, can be set off by the sensory overload brought on by living in large cities. Urban living’s fast-paced, high-stress environment can cause the sympathetic nervous system to be activated and stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to be released. Other constant sensory stimulations include noise, crowds, and bright lights. Chronic sensory overload can eventually cause an exaggerated fight-or-flight reaction, which can have detrimental implications on both physical and mental health. This includes a higher risk of stress-related illnesses like anxiety, depression, and heart disease.
in addition to triggering the fight or flight response, living in a major city can have a range of detrimental impacts on one’s physical and mental health. Chronic exposure to sensory overload can result in exhaustion, sleep disturbance, irritability, impaired cognitive performance, and even changes in brain structure and function (Clough, 2021).For instance, research in the journal Science Direct discovered that residing in a noisy urban environment can affect cognitive function and brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain linked to executive function and decision-making (Thompson et al., 2021).
Hence, it’s critical for people who live in big cities to be aware of the possibility of chronic stress and take action to manage it by using relaxation techniques such as participating in activities that enhance wellbeing.
Refrences:
Clough, S. (2021, August 11). City sensory overload changes the brain. NoiseNet Worldwide. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://www.noisenet.com/post/2018/04/11/city-sensory-overload-changes-the-brain
Thompson, R., Smith, R. B., & Karim, Y. B. (2021, October 12). Noise pollution and human cognition: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of recent evidence. Environment International. Retrieved March 31, 2023, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021005304
I can certainly relate to the “stimulus overload” reactions described by Milgram as a result of living in a big city. I resided in Philadelphia for four years from 2010 to 2014 after growing up in the suburbs of West Chester, PA, and I have to say, I hated almost every minute of it. I reluctantly moved to Philadelphia with my ex so that he could attend grad school at the Curtis Institute of Music, and while I embraced the change in my environment, I privately struggled with the transition and loathed the pollution, lack of privacy, constant noise, crime, and last but not least, struggle to find parking daily. After leaving the city in 2014 and moving to Phoenixville, PA, I have a much more comfortable environment that still has many of the conveniences of living in the city with regards to walking to great restaurants and entertainment venues, but without all of the elements that drove me away from the big city. I have actually noticed a different trend among people that I know from what you’ve described in your post of more people moving to big cities in the past decade. I’ve seen that many people I know have been doing the opposite and leaving big cities for more suburban areas, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Once many businesses became remote or offered hybrid work-from-home structures, while still offering the higher salaries for individuals who work in big cities, it seems as though many working professionals have migrated to quieter, safer, and more convenient communities outside of the cities. My sister, for example, moved out of New York City in 2020 after living there for over 20 years because of the chaos that resulted there from the pandemic and now lives in the suburbs of Philadelphia, while still making the same New York salary that she was while living there and now working from home instead. It’s certainly interesting to observe how the appeal of the city convenience has shifted since the pandemic began and many now find the suburbs to be a more welcoming environment to pursue their careers, and I’m curious to see how these dynamics continue to change over the coming decade. Thank you for your insightful post.
This was a very interesting blog to read. My partner and I recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee, which has a population of a little over one million people. This is obviously a very large city. We moved here from a small town with a population close to 2,000 so it was a drastic change for us. One thing that I found interesting about the move to the “big city” was how my partner’s and I’s responses were very different. He fell into “stimulus overload” as Milgram described it. The city caused him to go into “flight or fight” mode and was constantly stressed out. He was always worried about safety or something else entirely. However, I did not feel that way. I was excited to have new places to go to and settled in very quickly to the face-paced life of the city. I believe the reason for that was the concept of “person-environment fit”. This concept states that people differ in terms of their preference for living in urban, suburban, or rural environments (Gruman et al.,2016). There are many studies that are done on how living in the city can cause stress and other problems. However, there are also many benefits to living in the city. For example, I was able to walk to work and many restaurants. Personally, I was and still am much happier than I ever was living in such a small town. I had a good fit for the city environment while my partner did not. After we realized that living in the middle of the city was not working for him we made a compromise. We now live in a less urban area in what some might call a suburban area of Nashville, where we have a small backyard and I can still walk to a coffee shop. I think it is important to consider the person-environment fit when considering where to live.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.