They call it heartbreak for a reason, huh? Breaking up with someone feels pretty rubbish, especially if it wasn’t your decision. Your heart feels like its clamped in a vice, you haven’t slept properly for days, yet as soon as you hit the sack you’re wide awake and it feels like a small bomb has detonated in your stomach.
Heartbreak actually… hurts.
Fear not, you are not going mad, researchers have discovered that there is a reason that you feel so horrible – your brain hates the experience too.
Your brain is actually telling your body it hurts according to Naomi Eisenberger, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.
When you’re in love certain parts of your brain are awash with hormones like oxytocin and dopamine which make you feel happy and contented, so when your other half calls it a day, the supply of chemicals leaves you feeling vulnerable and susceptible to stress hormones.
When your body is under stress, your brain releases stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine, which help you run away from the bad experience, otherwise known as the ‘flight or flight’ mechanism. However during heartbreak your brain continues to pump out cortisol to your muscles, but rather than run away your muscles swell and your chest feels tight. Cortisol also diverts blood from your stomach, which would explain why your favourite roast dinner doesn’t even sound appealing. Combined with that you become vulnerable to germs, which might explain why you are fighting a post break-up cold.
Not all is lost: Like most physical strains, you can ease it with good old paracetomol for aches. Try to do some deep breathing for relaxation, or go for a run, which will release feel-good endorphins.
‘One thing you shouldn’t do is lock yourself in a room,’ says Gary Lewandowski, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at Monmouth University in New Jersey. ‘Self-imposed exile will only make things worse. Whatever cheers the mind may help cure the body.’
Have you been heartbroken and thought your body might explode? Tell us @lovestruck
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