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- Lower Stress
Stress is a large contributor to a number of health problems. On top of being bad for you, being stressed is generally uncomfortable, affects your personality, and damages relationships.
While the city’s convenience offers quick access to a number of stores and activities, the constant buzz of cars and people can take a toll. Noise, pace, and the potential for danger are all things that contribute to stress in cities.
A study found that those who lived in the city also responded worse to stress than those who lived in the country. Rural living offers quiet, space, and the opportunity to incorporate relaxation into your life.
- Healthier Food
Rural living offers the opportunity to eat fresh, organic foods grown in your area. While city living allows you to grab a bite whenever you want, the food isn’t always the best quality.
Fast food and food that has been transported for long distances are naturally going to be less nutritious than locally sourced foods. Individuals in rural areas are more likely to cook their own meals and experience the health benefits of a good diet.
- Stronger Community
People in rural areas depend on one another and get to know each other. Small towns do tend to breed close-knit communities.
Cities, while crowded with people, aren’t always the kindest and welcoming places. This isn’t always the case, of course.
With that said, loneliness is an increasingly large problem in the United States, and strong community ties are great antidotes to loneliness.
- Opportunity for Purpose
It’s hard to take pride in your living space with others your autonomy is limited to one or two rooms. Such is the case with apartment buildings and small townhomes.
Living rurally gives you the chance to take care of the land, have control over your property, and find a sense of purpose in your living environment.
- Improved Mental Health
There’s good reason to believe that living in a city can contribute to mental illnesses like anxiety and depression.
This is due to a number of complex factors, but the reality is that those who live in cities are at a higher risk of having a mental illness than those who live in rural areas.
- Lower Pollution
Cities are subjected to a lot of pollutants. Industrial plants, traffic, waste, and more all negatively impact the conditions of the air that people breath.
Rural areas tend to be free from these problems. The presence of trees, plants, and open spaces tend to mean less pollution.
- Smaller Classroom Sizes
Those who are provided with a better, longer education generally have better health outcomes.
City schools are saturated with too many children, detracting from the quality of education that the kids receive. Teachers are spread thin across children and don’t have enough time to address each individual.
Rural areas don’t suffer from this problem, and children can be given the time and attention they deserve. With better early education, children are more likely to go on to college and beyond.
- Exercise
Even if you aren’t going for runs or lifting weights, rural living certainly provides more opportunity to get out and use your body. You’re closer to parks, trails, and fields, all of which being great places to get out and be active.
At the very least, living in the country gives you every opportunity to get out and get active.
- Larger Living Spaces
An article by the Atlantic points out some of the health risks of living in a tight area. Young people are able to exist in small spaces, but we require more space as we get older.
The stress of living in a confined area can begin to pose serious health risks as a person moves into middle age and onward. Rural houses are typically large, certainly far larger than a small city apartment.
Living in an apartment can be like living in a cage. There are obviously fabulous apartments out there, but many are expensive, small, and oppressive.
On the other side of things, it doesn’t hurt to have, say, 5 to 10 acres to roam around on.
- Personal Autonomy
While abstract, social pressures and advertising have real effects on our minds. The city is filled with so much distraction, and our minds are drawn in a number of directions whenever we step out the door.
As opposed to going outside and seeing trees and fields, city-goers have to look out at vast highways, huge billboards with ads designed by people they will never meet, and the constant opportunity to get distracted from themselves.
Living out in the country is different in the sense that a person can live their life without interference from social pressures or advertisements. It isn’t a stretch to say that large companies try to alter the way we think.
Marketing, in large part, is an effort to subtly adjust peoples’ perceptions in favor of brands. Take a trip out to the country and see what it’s like to think for yourself.