Living in a metropolis has its advantages, but it also brings its own “side effects”.
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
Stress and overexertion, that’s what we usually talk about when we meet friends or come home from work. Living in a metropolis has its advantages, it is the greater availability of medical and psychological assistance, including opportunities for training and professional development, but it also has its own “side effects”. The main risks of life in the metropolis and life hacks, how to deal with them, were discussed at the Moscow Urban Forum by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Oncourology and Oncogynecology of the RNCRR, Professor, Head of the Department sports. RUDN University Alexander Dzidzaria medicine and neurobiologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology of the Faculty of Biology of Vyacheslav Dubynin Moscow State University.
IS STRESS AS TERRIBLE AS IT SHOWS?
In itself, stress is not bad, but good, the original term “stress” means tension, load. This is a kind of protection mechanism that allows us to mobilize and defend ourselves and our interests and, if necessary, flee from the threat. It becomes bad when stress ceases to be a mechanism for adapting a person to changing environmental conditions and becomes our enemy. The problems arise when the charge is too intense or too long, when each day you spend a little more energy than you recover.
MAN IN TOWN: WHY IS IT GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO WORRY AND HAVE CHILDREN?
“Depletion of the body’s resources and chronic fatigue is the path to oncology and cardiovascular diseases, and to the fact that half of couples of childbearing age have difficulty conceiving,” says oncourologist Alexander Dzidzaria. – There are also deficiencies, for example, in women iron deficiency anemia is frequent, the fashion for vegetarianism, and stress, and the fashion for the emaciated physique, and the age to get married in the cities is moving away. But after 35-40 years, the risk of fetal development pathologies increases significantly, but this is a difficulty not only for women, but also for men. Every year DNA fragmentation occurs and sperm quality decreases in men. The endocrine system also reacts to stress, this is immediately evident in the analyzes. In men, one indicator that there’s too much stress in life and it’s definitely time to reset is that the morning boner goes away.
What is now considered the norm in terms of sperm quality was previously considered simply terrible, the doctor notes. It turns out that in older generations at a young age, testosterone levels were higher than now at the same age in their sons.
SO WHAT TO DO, HOW TO OVERCOME THE STRESS IN A BIG CITY?
Do you think that after stress you need to rest as much as a “seal farm”, only on the sofa? One of the effective methods is to change the dominant activity.
– For example, at work I operate, and in the evening I went to wrestling, – says Alexander Dzidzaria. – I relax a lot, because I change the nature of the psychological load and throw out some negative emotions, but most importantly, I remain physically active. Secondly, quality nutrition is very important, and it is worth adding substances to support the nervous system. For example, I take tryptophan for the nervous system, I follow vitamin D.
It is simply necessary for a resident of a big city to train, because it means compensating for how unprofitable progress has brought with it. And it is worth working like this: 20-30 minutes of exercise, 10 minutes of rest. Take regular breaks from work and study and do not go “purple” to work, regular vacations and weekends are a guarantee of health.
– My recipe for a healthy diet is, first of all, simple food, a single component of products and the simplest preparation, – says the doctor. – And it is important to choose a diet according to your loads.
INSTEAD OF STORIES ON A SMARTPHONE – A WALK OUT OF THE CITY
Getting attached to stories on the phone is a certain kind of “addiction” of a modern city dweller. Yes, our brain loves to eat information, and indiscriminately. Social media algorithms are obsessed with this feature of the brain. You can scroll through the feed for 40 minutes, “what if something really cool happens now?”.
“Our brain absorbs everything we see and hear, and at deep levels, even when we are not aware of it,” says neuroscientist Vyacheslav Dubynin. – In the cerebral cortex and in the structures of the brain stem, all information continues to spin. This is where anxiety can come from.
In addition, the visual environment of the city is arranged in such a way that we see a lot of straight lines and right angles around us, which, of course, is not typical for nature.
“Our visual system, on the one hand, loves straight lines very much, and on the other hand, a large number of them quickly tires our nervous system, because our brain analyzes this space all the time,” says neurobiologist Vyacheslav Dubynin. – When we enter the forest, all the lines are curved there, and our nervous system is resting. Not surprisingly, the architect Gaudí gained worldwide fame for using smooth lines in architecture. So changing nature and landscape is very good for our brain.
