Jonah Lehrer writes in the Ideas section of this morning’s Boston Globe:

Now scientists have begun to examine how the city affects the brain, and the results are chastening.  Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes.  After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control.

This is particularly relvant to me because… wait… hang on, there was a reason… I just can’t remember it right now.

(Actually, the remedy Mr. Lehrer describes is to have more access to nature, even if it’s a view of trees from your window. So I’ll be needing a different excuse for poor memory and self-control.)