Big city got you down? Stress study may show why

By MALCOLM RITTER
AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — It may be no surprise that living in a big city can be bad for your mental health. Now a brain-scanning study may help scientists understand why.

Researchers studied the brains of healthy volunteers as they were exposed to stress. They found that certain brain areas were more active in people who lived in cities or who had grown up in urban areas.

The scientists said that finding might help explain why previous research links city living to the risk of getting schizophrenia and other mental disorders.

The work appears in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)