How the City Hurts Your Brain

[vicissitude]

from the Boston Globe/Boston.com article

so let's all finally run away and live in the forest, ok?

this overstimulation seems exactly like what i deal with in SF though the phenomenon is more complex as it relates to my variety of disparate social networks.

i wonder if i really would be happier in the forest.  i fear isolation from friends and social

Comments

[1muse]

wow, this is fascinating...i've always suspected a phenomenon like this existed, (i felt it in s.f. but even more so when i moved to chicago, which is the largest city i've ever lived in)

[idunn]

[pepperlime]

"Resisting these temptations requires us to flex the prefrontal cortex ... as a result, it's less able to exert self-control"

Aha! This is why I sometimes get WAY overstimulated in stores like Ikea and completely lose my rational decision-making ability. I usually make myself sit down before the checkout, take deep breaths, and then put back the stupider things I grabbed.

I'm glad that this short-circuiting is easy to combat with even a little bit of nature though. I think you might be suffering especially much because the instant you leave your front door it's people-crowds-bars-shopping insanity.