Is City Life Sustainable?

My thoughts on how living in a big city affects our health

A few months ago Sebastian and I ventured back to New York City for the weekend. This is actually where we met. He was living in the Lower East Side at the time and I was attending college in New Jersey, just a short train ride outside of the city. While we had visited two other times within the last year, this was our first time back since moving to Arizona.

Growing up, I had been obsessed with New York City. I was so enamored by it that I started an “NYC Apartment” fund in my savings account while I was still in high school. It’s where I saw myself living my whole life. The energy, creativity, people, food, and everything about the city amazed me. I loved it!

However, once the pandemic hit, everything changed. Crime began to increase in the city. Events were canceled. Small businesses began to close. Vaccine mandates went into place. The rich were able to escape to their Hampton homes for some fresh air while those in the city purely to chase their dreams suffered from loneliness and being trapped inside. The cultures and characters that made the city so unique were forced out because they could no longer sustain themselves.

New York City had begun to lose its allure. A city that had once seemed so accepting of all kinds of people became even more of an elitist paradise. The charm began to fade.

Sebastian and I decided to forgo our city leases and travel the country for a year, visiting destinations such as Santa Fe, Denver, Austin, and Charlottesville. I started to realize how nice it was to be out of the city, breathing in the fresh air. We had more space to run around with our dog. We could hike on the weekends and see the stars in the sky.

I finally began appreciating nature and realized just how stressed out I was. My mysterious health problems faded into the distance. My mind was clear and my body felt better than ever. I couldn’t help but think that cities just exasperate our health problems.

In today’s newsletter I’m going to discuss four main reasons I think living in a city like New York isn’t sustainable for our health, speaking on research and personal experience. Because, 60% of the world's population is projected to live in cities by 2030 (Rydin et al., 2012). Aren’t we at all curious how that will affect rising rates of disease and inflammation? I will look at light and noise pollution, the glamorization of busyness, a social life dependent on alcohol and food, and the lack of nature.

Light and Noise Pollution

We all know big cities like New York are known for being loud and bright. You probably won’t make it through the night without hearing at least one taxi honk or an ambulance drive by your window. According to the Sleep Foundation, vehicle noise alone decreases slow wave and REM sleep, the two stages important in memory function.

Noise and light are two things that tend to affect our circadian rhythm or the natural cycle of our bodies. Disruption of the circadian rhythm is linked to depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Not to mention, circadian rhythm has also been shown to control 10-15% of our genes.

The main reason our circadian rhythm is affected is due to the decrease in the production of melatonin when we are exposed to loud noises and bright lights. Melatonin triggers a lot of biological activities such as reduction in estrogen at night, so when this is disrupted, so are the essential processes that regulate our bodies.

Currently, 99% of the population of the EU and the US (minus Alaska and Hawaii) live in areas where the night sky is brighter than the threshold for light-polluted status set by the International Astronomical Union. It’s not just those in cities that are affected by artificial lighting.

Bright lights have been shown to disrupt the natural patterns of other animals on this Earth, such as the migration patterns of birds, baby turtles making their way to the sea, and frogs producing mating calls. If light has the power to change patterns ingrained in animals that have existed in harmony for thousands of years, imagine the effect it has on us humans as well.

One study showed a correlation between artificial light at night and breast cancer, even when controlling for different factors such as population density, economic status, and air pollution. Compared to low-lighted areas, those who lived somewhere where it was bright enough to read a book outside, experienced a 73% higher risk of developing breast cancer.

So, what can you do about this, whether you live in a city or not? Make sure you are sleeping with blackout curtains that allow you to be sleeping in a completely dark room. You can also try to camp outside in a desolate area, with just the stars lighting up the sky, to help reset your circadian rhythm. I talked about this more in my last post.

The Glamorization of Busyness

I’m Madison and I’m a former busy-holic 🙋. But seriously, being busy used to be a part of my identity. And I feel like it is for a lot of people who lived in fast-paced cities like New York, LA, and DC. You see everyone else constantly going going going and if you’re not also always on the move, you’re lazy and have no goals of your own. Maybe it’s just that these cities attract very type-A overachieving personalities like mine. If that’s the case, they definitely help to spin it out of control.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge believer in having goals and working hard to achieve them. However, running yourself into the ground isn’t the way to do that. Everyone needs time to relax, unwind, and calm down their nervous system. And it took me a long time to realize this myself.

It wasn’t until I left the city that I realized how crazy my schedule was and how I was abandoning taking care of my own health in order to attend every networking event, interview for every internship, and have a thriving social life. If you don’t have a crazy schedule people look at you like you don’t belong in the city.

Even now, I’ll watch some of my favorite NYC influencers running around like crazy saying things like “New York or nowhere”, but then talk about how burnt out they are. In a city that breeds overachievers, it can be exhausting to even surround yourself with these types of people. Every dinner conversation centers around side hustles, new business ventures, or all of the appointments you have the next day.

How about connecting with others on a deeper level and seeing people for who they really are and not just the things they accomplish?

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love the Italians introduce the idea of arte di non fare nulla to Elizabeth Gilbert. What does this mean? It’s the sweetness of doing nothing. The idea that sometimes we deserve to just take in the pleasures of life without feeling guilty. When Sebastian and I were in New York, we could never sit still. There was always something happening outside of our window that we felt we needed to take advantage of it. Busy cities make the idea of arte di non fare nulla nonexistent.

A social life dependent on alcohol and food

A vibrant social life is one of the main reasons people are drawn to the city in the first place. There are so many different types of people to meet, and an endless number of restaurants to try, and it’s not uncommon for fun nights to turn into mornings. Meeting new people and trying incredible new restaurants was one of my favorite parts of the city.

However, this is the only thing to really do in order to connect you to others. Sure, you can go for a walk, play tennis, or chill in the park, but how often is that really done? Not to mention you can’t do those things for at least 6 months out of the year. It’s impossible to live in the city without going out to eat or grabbing a drink at least twice a week. Your social life depends on it!

Of course, food and alcohol are two things that greatly affect our health. You don’t know what type of oils a restaurant is cooking with, if the produce is organic, or if the meat is grass-fed. Vegetable oils, inorganic ingredients, and antibiotic-laden meat aren’t good for us, especially when we consume them in a stressful state of being. When we cook at home, we can control these factors. When we eat out, we can’t.

Of course, this is fine every once and a while, but when your social life depends on it these meals can pile up and begin to take a toll on your health. When I would visit Sebastian for the weekend, we would mainly eat out, and I’d feel it the entire week after. My energy levels were low, my digestion was off, and my stomach was bloated. Nobody wants to feel like this!

Unfortunately, most people’s apartments are too small to host dinner parties where you can cook for your friends. Now living in Arizona, this is one of our favorite ways to hang out with people- cook them dinner!

Not to mention, “getting drinks” is a lifestyle in big cities. If you don’t want to spend all the money on a full meal, you spend $15 on a cocktail instead. Cities promote the constant consumption of alcohol. Whether it is a casual get-together with a friend or a night out at the club, it’s nearly impossible to avoid alcohol. When alcohol is constantly around you, it makes it harder to make smart decisions.

While I didn’t drink much after college, I would still grab a cocktail with a friend in order to get out of my apartment. It was something to do! Now, after moving away from the city, I don’t drink at all. I’m able to do other activities with friends like go for a hike or hang out by the pool. There are a plethora of activities that don’t involve alcohol.

Lack of nature

Within cities, you see more concrete and asphalt than you do green grass and dirt. While there are parks dispersed here and there, it doesn’t compare to the green space available to you in the suburbs or country. We are meant to be immersed in nature rather than having small pockets of nature in a world of concrete.

Not to mention, the green areas that do exist in the city, are sprayed heavily with pesticides in order to prevent plants from growing too wild and out of control. So, all the benefits are outweighed by the exposure to pesticides.

One study found that green spaces enhance immune function and increase the diversity of our microbiome through exposure to biodiverse soil and soil dust (Kuo, 2015). There’s a reason children that play in dirt don’t get sick as much! They are exposing themselves to healthy bacteria that help them fight off the bad bacteria and build their immune systems. The same goes for adults.

Another study found that exposure to natural elements was associated with lower rates of psychiatric disorders. This is due to the presence of negative ions in the grass, water, and sand. This is the exact reason that “grounding” your bare feet on the Earth is so powerful. Negative ions help to balance out the positive ones in our bodies which can turn into dangerous free radicals. Putting your feet on the Earth more can relieve stress, increase serotonin levels, and boost energy.

Surrounding ourselves with nature has more benefits to our health than we ever can realize. We’ve always lived outside, in harmony with the Earth. We’ve evolved to live with the trees, birds, plants, and dirt.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are absolutely positives to living in the city. I still enjoy visiting for a weekend and trying new restaurants, exploring the art galleries, and meeting up with friends. However, do I think we are meant to live there for years at a time or even our whole life? No. I don’t think it is sustainable for our health.

And, if you do live in the city, you need to make an active effort to get out and expose yourself to mountains and beaches. To take time away from the constant noise, lights, and stimulation. When living in a big city, you need to be even more conscious of the choices you are making and how they are affecting your health.

One of the big benefits of living in the city is the community. New Yorkers are all happy to be New Yorkers. There’s a sense of comradery there. Use your time in the city to build up lasting relationships that don’t only revolve around food and alcohol.

I’m curious, where do you currently live? Are you in the city or the suburbs? We currently live in Phoenix, Arizona which is absolutely still a city. However, there’s dirt (and the occasional patch of grass) outside, lots of sunshine, nearby mountains, and fruit trees all around our neighborhood. It’s a great mix of awesome restaurants, cool people, and the wilderness!

I’m currently in the city of Athens, Greece exploring all of the rich history here. I’m looking forward to writing about ancient Greek technology, olive oil farming, farm-to-table meals, community, and solo traveling. Be sure to subscribe for these future newsletters!

Madison