🤯 Mental Health in a Big City — A Survival Guide.
Hello! The Wizey team here again. Today, we’re going to talk about a topic that, without exaggeration, affects every resident of a metropolis. Something that isn’t usually discussed over dinner but constantly creates “background noise” in our lives. We’re talking about mental health in a big city.
You know, our brain is an amazingly plastic yet conservative structure. It evolved over millions of years to survive on the savannah: to spot a predator in the grass, to remember where edible roots grow, and to interact effectively within a small tribe of relatives. And now, we’ve placed this “savannah brain” into an environment it was never designed for. Into the concrete jungle.
Constant noise, crowds of people, 24/7 information overload, a perpetual rush, and lights that never go out. This isn’t just “background”; these are powerful stressors that batter our nervous system daily. To be surprised that it starts to fail is like being surprised that your laptop overheated after a full day of rendering 4K video.
So, let’s figure out what exactly is happening to our psyche in the big city and, most importantly, what to do about it. This will be our survival guide.
The City as a Stress Factor: What Does Science Say?
When we say “stress,” we often imagine something specific: a work crisis, an argument with a loved one. But there is also chronic, low-intensity stress that we don’t always notice. And the big city is its main supplier.
1. Information Overload and “Digital Noise”
Remember how neuroscientist Vyacheslav Dubynin explains the dopamine system? This neurotransmitter is responsible for motivation and the anticipation of a reward. Originally, it was needed for us to seek food and procreate. Today, it is mercilessly exploited by social media, news feeds, and endless notifications.
Every like, every new headline, every message is a microdose of dopamine. The brain gets hooked on this, demanding more and more stimulation. As a result, our attention system becomes depleted. We become unable to concentrate on one task for long, feel constant anxiety (“what if I missed something?”), and experience mental fatigue. This isn’t laziness; it’s the real exhaustion of the neural networks responsible for cognitive control.
2. Social Isolation in a Crowd
The paradox of the metropolis: you’re surrounded by millions of people, yet you feel lonely. Unlike in a small village where everyone knows each other, in the city, we are surrounded by anonymous faces. This violates our brain’s basic need to belong to “our tribe.”
Studies show that chronic loneliness increases cortisol (the stress hormone) levels and activates the same areas in the brain as physical pain. We literally suffer from the lack of strong social bonds. Superficial contacts on social media or at work do not fill this deficit.
3. Disruption of Circadian Rhythms
Our internal clock, located in the hypothalamus, has been calibrated by the sun for millennia. Sunrise—wake up, sunset—go to sleep. And what about in the city? Artificial lighting late into the night, the light from gadget screens that suppresses the production of melatonin—the sleep hormone.
As a result, we sleep less and our sleep quality is worse. And lack of sleep is a direct blow to mental health. The functioning of the prefrontal cortex, responsible for self-control and decision-making, is impaired. We become more irritable and impulsive. Memory deteriorates, as it is during sleep that the brain “sorts and files” the information received during the day.
“Is It Just Fatigue” or Is It Time to See a Doctor?
The biggest trap we fall into is devaluing our own condition. “Everyone lives like this,” “I just need to pull myself together,” “I’ll rest on vacation.” But the line between normal fatigue and a condition that requires help is very thin.
Here are a few “red flags” to watch out for:
- Anhedonia: What used to bring joy no longer does. Meeting friends, hobbies, tasty food—everything seems bland and meaningless.
- Sleep disturbances: You can’t fall asleep, wake up frequently during the night, or, conversely, sleep for 12 hours and still don’t feel rested.
- Changes in appetite: A sharp increase or, conversely, a complete lack of interest in food.
- Cognitive problems: Difficulty concentrating, worsening memory, feeling paralyzed when making even simple decisions.
- Somatic manifestations: Headaches, digestive problems (irritable bowel syndrome is a classic psychosomatic companion), back pain, a constant feeling of a lump in your throat.
When you have a whole mixed bag of such non-specific complaints, from a headache to strange stomach gurgling, it’s easy to get confused. Which doctor should you see? A neurologist? A gastroenterologist? A general practitioner? By the way, it is for such cases that our assistant Wizey was created—to help you sort everything out, analyze your symptoms, and understand which specialist is best to discuss this “hodgepodge” with. It doesn’t make a diagnosis, but it can interpret your lab results, find connections, and help you prepare for a doctor’s visit to ask the right questions.
A Practical Survival Guide
The good news is that we are not helpless. We can create a more comfortable environment for our “savannah brain” even in the heart of a metropolis. Here are a few strategies that work.
Step 1: Digital Hygiene
This is like brushing your teeth, but for your brain.
- Turn off unnecessary notifications. Keep only the most important ones: calls from loved ones, messages from the work chat during work hours. Ditch the rest.
- Practice a digital detox. At least an hour before bed and the first hour after waking up—no phone. Let your brain wake up and fall asleep without a dopamine storm. Read a paper book, listen to music, or just look out the window.
- Consume content mindfully. Don’t scroll through your feed aimlessly. Go on social media with a specific purpose: to reply to a message, to see a specific person’s post.
Step 2: Rebuilding the “Tribe”
- Quality over quantity. One heartfelt conversation with a friend per week is better than a hundred likes from acquaintances. Schedule meetings with loved ones just as you schedule work meetings.
- Find your “tribe.” Hobby clubs, sports teams, volunteer organizations. Any community united by a common cause is a powerful antidote to loneliness.
Step 3: Befriending Your Circadian Rhythms
- Routine is everything. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time, even on weekends. Yes, it’s boring. Yes, it works.
- More light in the morning, less in the evening. In the morning, try to spend at least 15-20 minutes outside. In the evening, use dim, warm light, enable “night mode” on all your gadgets, and have blackout curtains in your bedroom.
Step 4: Physical Activity—A Legal Antidepressant
As science communicator Asya Kazantseva says, citing numerous studies, regular physical exercise is comparable in its effectiveness to taking antidepressants for mild to moderate depression.
Why? First, during a workout, endorphins—our internal opiates that improve mood—are released. Second, physical activity reduces cortisol levels. Third, it enhances neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to form new neural connections. You don’t have to run a marathon. A 30-40 minute brisk walk a day is a huge contribution to your mental health.
Step 5: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help
And this is perhaps the most important point. In our culture, the stereotype that seeking help from a psychotherapist or psychiatrist is a sign of weakness is still strong. This is a profound misconception.
If you have a toothache, you go to the dentist. If you break your leg, you go to an orthopedist. If your soul aches, if you can’t cope with anxiety, apathy, or panic—you need to see a mental health specialist. This is not weakness; it is responsibility. Responsibility for your own health and quality of life.
Modern psychotherapy and pharmacology have a huge arsenal of tools to help people. To ignore these possibilities in the 21st century is like trying to treat pneumonia with a plantain leaf.
Life in a big city is a marathon, not a sprint. You can’t constantly work yourself to exhaustion and ignore the signals your body and psyche are sending you. Sometimes these signals can be disguised as something else, for example, lab results that suddenly go haywire for no apparent reason. If you receive such results and don’t understand what they mean or if they are related to your condition, you can upload them to Wizey. Our service will help decipher the indicators and tell you what to pay attention to before consulting a specialist.
Take care of yourself. Listen to yourself. And remember that caring for your mental health is not a luxury, but a necessary condition for a full and happy life in our concrete jungles.
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