Lowry likens the “exaggerated inflammatory response” of the city-raised men to “a sleeping giant that they are completely unaware of.” What surprised the researchers was that although their bodies appeared to have a more sensitive response to stress, the men with a pet-free city upbringing reported lower feelings of stress than their counterparts who had been raised on farms. Lowry says that these results showed that “eople who grew up in an urban environment had a much-exaggerated induction of the inflammatory immune response to the stressor, and it persisted throughout the 2-hour period.” Interleukin 6 is a compound that promotes inflammation, while interleukin 10 is a compound that reduces it. Meanwhile, members of the city upbringing group also had sustained higher levels of interleukin 6 and “suppressed” levels of interleukin 10. The results showed that the young men raised in cities without pets had a “pronounced increase” in levels of “peripheral blood mononuclear cells.” These cells form a large part of the immune system. Lowry and colleagues previously discussed how “progressive loss of contact with organisms with which we co-evolved” may be to blame for “much of the failure of regulation of inappropriate inflammatory immune responses” seen in many modern city-dwellers and inhabitants of wealthier nations. Reber, a professor in molecular psychosomatics at the University of Ulm, and his team use the term “old friends” to refer to the microbes that co-evolved with humans. In their study paper, senior author Stefan O. However, it has become apparent that interaction with microbes goes beyond this original scope, and it has even been suggested that the term hygiene hypothesis is a misnomer and should be abandoned. The theory has its roots in 30-year-old research that suggested that a lower rate of infection among young children was the reason that rates of asthma and allergy-related diseases shot up in the 20th century. The idea that increasing urbanization and the changes in lifestyle that accompany it might increase risk of certain diseases because of reduced interaction with a variety of microbes stems from the hygiene hypothesis. By 2014, this figure had risen to 54 percent and is expected to rise to 66 percent by 2050. In 1950, only a third of the world’s population lived in cities. Human existence is becoming increasingly urbanized. However, he adds that their study also “moves the conversation forward by showing for the first time in humans that these same exposures are likely to be important for mental health.” Lowry, who is a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, “that exposure to pets and rural environments during development is beneficial in terms of reducing risk of asthma and allergies later in life.” “It has already been very well documented,” says study co-author Christopher A. In that respect, it adds to the growing evidence in support of the theories that developed from the “hygiene hypothesis.”īut the study is the first to suggest that a greater risk of psychiatric disorders - likely due to an “exaggerated immune response” - might be another unexpected consequence of growing up in an environment with fewer opportunities to interact with a variety of microbes. This study is by no means the first to propose that growing up in urban settings lacking in microbe diversity can undermine physical health. This was the conclusion of new research that was led by the University of Ulm in Germany and is now published in the journal PNAS. Share on Pinterest Growing up in a rural setting around animals could mean better mental resilience.
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