Does City Living Hurt Mental Health?

Are people happier in nature with ue skies overhead and fresh green grass underfoot? 

天空蔚蓝，脚下绿草茵茵，人们在大自然中是否更快乐？

Could noisy streets, crowded with cars and people, make us unhappy? 

喧闹的街道，拥挤的汽车和人群，会让我们不快乐吗？

The possie mental health effects of city living affects a lot of people. 

城市生活可能带来的心理健康影响影响着很多人。

The World Health Organization estimates that 54 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas in 2014. The WHO adds that that amount will increase to 66 percent by 2050.

世界卫生组织估计，2014年世界人口的54%生活在城市地区。

世卫组织补充说，到2050年，这一数字将增加到66%。

People often move to cities for better jobs and more cultural activities. But are they putting themselves at risk? Maybe.

人们经常为了更好的工作和更多的文化活动而搬到城市。

但他们是在冒险吗？

也许吧。

Experts at the American Psychiatry Association say that "natural environments or green spaces" do much for good our mental health.

美国精神病学协会的专家说，“自然环境或绿地”对我们的心理健康有很大帮助。

Many studies have shown that nature can calm us and make us feel happy. Nature, experts say, can also help us learn better. 

许多研究表明，大自然能使我们平静下来，使我们感到快乐。

专家说，大自然也能帮助我们更好地学习。

And experiencing nature helps people recover from the mental tiredness that comes from day-to-day work.

体验大自然有助于人们从日常工作带来的精神疲劳中恢复过来。

Other research also suggests that activity in natural outdoor settings can help to reduce the symptoms of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder （ADHD） in children. 

其他研究也表明，在自然户外环境中活动有助于减少儿童注意缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）的症状。

ADHD is a brain disorder that can effect a person's ability to think clearly.

多动症是一种大脑疾病，可以影响一个人的思维能力清楚。

On the other hand, mental health experts say some research suggests that city living might hurt our mental health. But they cannot say exactly why.

另一方面，心理健康专家说，一些研究表明，城市生活可能会损害我们的心理健康。

但他们无法确切说明原因。

"What are the specific aspects of the urban environment which causes some people to develop mental health issues?"

“城市环境的哪些具体方面导致一些人产生心理健康问题？

”

Andrea Mechelli is a doctor with the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College, London.

安德里亚·梅切利是伦敦国王学院精神病学研究所的一名医生。

"There have been studies where people were literally taken out of an urban environment into a rural environment, and their symptoms would improve. And we also see that the greater the city the greater the risk."

“有研究表明，人们从城市环境中被带到农村环境中，他们的症状会得到改善。我们也看到，城市越大，风险就越大。

”

Mechelli says that someone who lives in a city is three times more likely to develop psychosis than someone who lives in the country.

梅切利说，住在城市的人患精神病的可能性是住在乡下的人的三倍。

Kings College researchers, along with city planners, land and building designers and others wanted to learn more about city living and mental illness. 

国王学院的研究人员、城市规划师、土地和建筑设计师以及其他人都想了解更多关于城市生活和精神疾病的知识。

So, they created a smartphone app called Urban Mind. They say they wanted to understand how different parts of the urban environment affect mental wellbeing.

因此，他们开发了一款名为“城市思维”的智能手机应用程序。他们说他们想了解城市环境的不同部分是如何影响心理健康的。

The Urban Mind app measures your experience of city living in the moment. Researchers collected real time information from 108 people. 

城市思维应用程序测量你对当下城市生活的体验。研究人员收集了108人的实时信息。

These people answered just over 3,000 questions during a one-week period.

这些人在一周内只回答了3000多个问题。

The researchers found that "being outdoors, seeing trees, hearing birdsong, seeing the sky, and feeling in contact with nature were associated with higher levels of mental well-being."

研究人员发现，“在户外，看树，听鸟鸣，看天空，感觉与自然的接触与更高的精神健康水平有关。

”

They also found that these seeming effects of nature were especially strong in those individuals at greater risk of mental health proems.

他们还发现，在那些心理健康问题风险较大的人身上，这些看似自然的影响尤其强烈。

The Urban Mind Project team says it hopes "the results will inform future urban planning and social policy aimed at improving design and health."

城市思维项目团队表示，他们希望“研究结果能为未来的城市规划和旨在改善设计和健康的社会政策提供参考。

”

Their report is titled "Urban Mind: Using Smartphone Technologies to Investigate the Impact of Nature on Mental Wellbeing in Real Time." It was puished in the January puication of BioScience magazine.

他们的报告名为“城市思维：

使用智能手机技术实时调查自然对心理健康的影响”，发表在一月份出版的《生物科学》杂志上。

The researchers launched a new version of the Urban Mind app in March 2018. This new version will feature several languages and will be used for a large international study.

研究人员在2018年3月推出了新版城市思维应用程序。这一新版本将采用多种语言，并将用于一项大型国际研究。

If you are interested in the project, you can visit the website at UrbanMind.info. 

如果你对这个项目感兴趣，你可以访问urbanmind.info网站。