Study Names the World's Most Stressful Cities
There is a very old story called The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. It's about two mice: one that likes life in the busy city with its noise and activity, and one that prefers the peace and quiet of the country.
If you're anything like the Country Mouse, you find city life stressful and difficult. But some cities can be more stressful than others.
In fact, a US company has released a list of the world's most stressful cities, and the Greek capital of Athens came out as the world's most stressful city to live in.
California-based e-cigarette company Provape looked at a number of different things to get a "stress score" for each city. It looked at the quality of life, safety and pollution, as well as how many people smoke, drink alcohol and are overweight in that city — things that are sometimes associated with stress.
Athens was found to have high numbers of smokers and to have some problems with safety and pollution.
The city often has problems with its garbage and parts of the center are overcrowded. However, it was also named the best-smelling city in the world earlier this year!
And many of the other cities in the top 10 got much worse scores for pollution, including Manila, Cairo and São Paulo, which came next in the list.
According to the World Bank, almost seven out of 10 of us will be living in cities by 2050.
Stress can affect the body and the mind, so how can we make city life less stressful?
Experts say that spending time in green spaces, or close to rivers, lakes or the sea can help us. They also say that choosing to walk or cycle may be better than traveling around the city by car.
