Stress proves price of urban lifestyles

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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If the residents of Europe’s chaotic and traffic-snarled mega-city Istanbul are feeling stressed, then a new report will give them cause to celebrate. Life is even harder and more stressful in London, Paris and Rome.

While the pace of living in Istanbul may be new to many in Europe’s largest city, a survey of 1,000 people in London by EasyJet Airlines puts the city on easy street Ğ relatively speaking.

Istanbul ranks fourth among stressful European cities. London got 57 percent, Paris 39 percent, Rome 26 percent and Istanbul got 20 percent of the votes.

The survey let participants vote for as many cities as they would like and revealed that Istanbul, besides being over-populated and bustling around the clock, has a high rate of stressful living..

For survey respondents, the main reason for stress was mostly financial problems. Traffic, rapidly rising expenditures, people’s impatience, long working hours and bad weather conditions are additional factors that cause despair and stress for residents of big cities.

The survey results mostly blame the global economic crisis and in metropolitan cities such as Istanbul, the difficulty of surviving through the crisis is felt more each day.

According to the survey there is something called "metropolitan sickness." Many people living in Paris, London and Rome also suffer from the symptoms of metropolitan sickness. Traffic, pollution, stress and unsatisfactory social lives are the leading ailments that cause metropolitan sickness.

Besides the physiological and mental problems caused by a stressful city life, there are also permanent illnesses that inflict people as they are carried away by the fast pace of life.

Although the infrastructure of Istanbul is not strong enough for more people, the city becomes more populated each day. Compared to other cities, Istanbul drags people to loneliness and wears out its inhabitants.

’Istanbul bronchitis’

In the last few years, the metropolitan sickness has taken on unique names that actually describe the chaos-caused illness. Many even entered science literature.

Istanbul bronchitis, sick building syndrome and legionary sickness are just a few of them. Pollution is one of the biggest problems in Istanbul.

Science named the pollution-induced illness "Istanbul bronchitis." The illness is simply dry coughing, yet the stress and nervousness it brings with it is a big problem for those living the fast life. Everyone can get Istanbul bronchitis.

It appears mostly at nights as a fit of coughing. Istanbul bronchitis is not a simple illness; women and children may even have bladder problems.

The good news is that the illness can be healed in a few months with cortisone and antihistamines.

Of course there are ways to tackle stress. One can try to stay away from stress to lead a healthier life. It has grown popular for people living in metropolises to attend as many activities as possible and have hobbies such as yoga, gym, photography or a musical instrument. Yet everyone tries to find reasonable prices.

Avoiding stress

The survey also asked people what they would like to do to stay away from a stressful life. Eighteen percent preferred traveling, 17 percent preferred sleeping, 14 percent preferred reading a good book, 13 percent preferred to take a hot shower, 12 percent said they relax by playing sports, 10 percent preferred drinking, 8 percent preferred having sex and another 8 percent of the participants preferred talking.