Inverse - 🏡 Let’s talk about where you live

By Sarah Sloat

Hello, and welcome to Sunday Scaries #124! My name is Sarah Sloat, and I’m the senior science editor at Inverse. Thanks for signing up to read this chill newsletter for not-chill people. 

How does where you live influence mental health, and vice versa? That’s the complex topic we’re discussing in today’s issue.

This week’s chill icon

This week’s chill icon is Doug. Doug is the potato, not the man, and Doug is possibly the largest potato on record. Doug weighs 17 pounds and is a celebrity in New Zealand. Very chill! 

Have you encountered a chill icon (or icons) IRL or during your internet browsing? If so, I want to hear from you! Send an email over to sundayscaries@inverse.com and you may see them in next week’s newsletter.

Let’s talk about where you live

New research suggests there’s a link between genetic risk for psychiatric disorders and the likelihood of living in a city.

Previous studies argue that the stress of living in a city, along with exposure to elements like pollution, is a risk factor for mental health conditions like schizophrenia. Cities are typically associated with higher rates of mental health problems — the why, however, is up for debate. 

In a study published in October in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers find one’s genetic risk for mental health conditions can influence where a person chooses to live. This isn’t to say that environment doesn’t play a role in the development of mental health conditions. Instead, the study team calls for more integrated approaches when it comes to exploring, and addressing, what causes these conditions — therapeutic steps that consider all the factors that result in a diagnosis. 

Critically, carrying this genetic risk doesn’t mean a person has a mental health condition — and the majority of individuals in the 385,793 person sample did not have a diagnosis. Overall, when the research team compared people who moved from rural areas to urban areas to those who stayed in rural areas, they found higher genetic risks for autism, anorexia, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Meanwhile, they found a lower genetic risk for ADHD. 

Jonathan Coleman is a co-author of this study and a lecturer at King’s College London. He tells Inverse this research doesn’t negate the adverse effects of living in cities on mental health, but instead “supports the idea that people with a greater genetic predisposition to worse mental health are also more likely to move to cities.” 

“We would say our research shows that the influences on mental health are nuanced,” Coleman says. “Both environmental and genetic factors may have important effects, and we need to take an integrated approach to understanding these effects.”

Exploring the link between genetic risk and choice of home

Coleman and colleagues examined genetic data pulled from people between the ages of 37 and 73 who participated in the UK Biobank project. 

This study is based on a specific population. Because cities, and the reason people choose to live in cities, are different all over the world, “there are good reasons to think that the genetic and environmental influences of cities on mental health may vary between.” 

The team calculated the polygenetic risk score for each participant for various mental health conditions. A polygenetic risk score is a measurement of disease risk based on a person’s genes — it’s an estimation and most people have some level of genetic risk for mental health conditions. 

The scores were compared to data associated to:

• Where the study participants live
• Where they’ve moved
• The population density of these places, based on UK census data 

Overall, the study team writes, these “findings suggest a high genetic risk for a variety of psychiatric disorders may affect an individual’s choice of residence.”

Mental health and why people move

“Where an individual lives is obviously a highly complex matter, influenced both by things within their control and things outside of their control,” Coleman says.

You may move to a city to seek further education, to be closer to better healthcare, or because you got a new job. And while many of these elements have been found to be related to genetics, DNA is only one part of the recipe. Genes can inform a framework for how one behaves, but one’s environment is arguably what determines the actual result. 

Moving to cities, Coleman points out, may also with it some degree of risk because genetic influences on risk-taking could influence that decision. “Overall, there are lots of different contributing factors to moving to a city,” he says, “and many of those may be influenced in part by genetic variation.” 

Seemingly confounding the situation, alongside studies that find urban dwellers are more likely to develop mental health conditions, are other studies that suggest cities can actually benefit mental health because cities provide the sort of social interactions that help mental health. 

So, what exactly is going on? Ultimately, research like the kind displayed in the JAMA Psychiatry study suggests there’s more to this link between genes and urban living than we previously realized — and it’s something to probe if we really want to get better at providing much-needed mental health support. 

That understanding can be incorporated into this wider understanding that physical and social factors influence mental health too.

Now look at this oddly satisfying thing

This beautiful swirl was captured by Sunday Scaries reader Erin in Zuni, New Mexico. Thank you for sharing, Erin!

Have you noticed any beautiful patterns in nature? If so, I’d love to include your photo as a satisfying image in upcoming newsletters. If you’d like to share, send an email over to email to sundayscaries@inverse.com. 

What I’m reading this week

Distract yourself from the scaries with these reads:

• Seasonal affective disorder: 8 science-backed therapies to try. Winter is coming.
• Why astronomers want to build a telescope even bigger than James Webb. Here are some of the most important space missions coming up this decade. 
• Why the world needs more whale poop. “It all collapsed when the whales were taken out.”
  

And if it’s midnight and you’re still feeling the scaries . . . 

• Enjoy Andrew Lloyd Webber hating the movie  Cats. 
  

Thank you for reading! Be kind to yourself and we’ll huddle up next week.

You’ve opened 6 out of 6 emails this month and unlocked Inverse Silver!

Congrats! This is your 2nd consecutive open!

• Next Rewards Level: $50 Amazon Gift Card

Read Inverse Daily every day to advance your rank in our monthly giveaways. The more you read, the better the prizes.

Lifetime Stats

You rank in the 100th percentile of Inverse Daily subscribers with 1812 lifetime opens. That’s 8% up from last week.

Share Inverse Daily

Do you know someone who would enjoy reading Inverse Daily? Take a few minutes to share it with them.

Click to Share

Or copy & paste your personal referral link:

https://www.inverse.com/newsletter?referral_code=024cfe3d-65ed-4a7d-923d-6538f2414d1d&list=inverseDaily