In the more recent years of my stay topside terra firma, I’ve come to view my rural upbringing as one of the greatest assets I possess. Now, I learn that maybe it’s helping keep that pesky lizard brain at bay, too.
The Economist reports on a study that compared primitive brain parts between city and rural dwellers:
People living in the countryside had the lowest levels of activity in their amygdalas. Those living in towns had higher levels. City dwellers had the highest. . . In the case of the pACC, however, what mattered was not where someone was living now, but where he or she was brought up. The more urban a person’s childhood, the more active his pACC, regardless of where he was dwelling at the time of the experiment.
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It is interesting that those who grew up rural adapted more easily to stress, even stress as artificial and city-like as a math test. City dwellers might claim that the faster and more intense city life makes them better prepared for stress, but the opposite seems to be true. Why? Here’s my guess.
I once had to leave a note on the door of a rural-living friend who had a dog so large that on four legs he could almost look me in the eye. The dog was doing his job protecting the house, barking loudly at me from only a few feet away. Having grown up almost rural, I had no problem with the situation. I reasoned:
1. A country maxim: Never show fear to domesticated animals such as bulls, large dogs or whatever. They’ll sense that. Keep in mind that they’re used to doing what some humans tell them to do. Move calmly and act like one of those humans and you’re OK.
2. I trusted the guy who owned the house to know his animals. I knew he wouldn’t own a dog that was actually dangerous. As long as I didn’t try to break in or attack someone in the family, I was OK.
In contrast, the very city-bred guy I was with that day was paralyzed, utterly terrified and cowering yards away. I found that amusing.
Perhaps that incident hints at how these different environments operate.
RURAL: Dangers in the country are related to animals and mostly predictable. Act confident, and that 1200-pound Scottish Highlander bull with the wicked horns will do what you want it to do (actual experience). Even more important, any animal that’s really dangerous gets culled. Also, thanks to hunting, even wild animals will usually avoid humans, given sufficient warning. In short, rural life confronts you with predictable dangers and teaches you to take care of yourself.
CITY: Dangers in cities are mostly from humans and objects guided by humans like cars. Unfortunately, humans are far less predictable and jail does a far poorer job of culling out the dangerous ones. The result is constant, unresolved tension. The world is not a predictable, controllable place. Many city problems require calling in professionals. You can’t take care of yourself.
The impact of these differing childhoods matter, as the study found, because that’s when our view of life is being shaped. It may not make perfect sense to regard a potential mugger with the same “I can handle him” attitude that a country boy would take toward large animals, but having that attitude does make the situation less stressful and perhaps more manageable. And I know that in the city I handle dangerous humans much like I did that giant dog. Stay calm, stay confident, and don’t do anything threatening.