Can a Broken Heart Cause Physical Pain?

A broken heart is a painful life experience that everyone goes through at some point in their lives. Losing what we love breaks our hearts. It may be a spouse, a child, a parent, a friendship, or a job. The ensuing stress from heartbreak negatively impacts the whole body causing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual distress.

So, can a broken heart cause physical pain? Yes, those that have gone through heartbreak have felt a pain similar to heart attacks. The science of heartbreak and an understanding of how can a broken heart cause physical pain can help you approach self-care better. Healing a broken heart is challenging and unpredictable because each person experiences it differently. Keep reading for more information about the physical and psychological effects of heartbreak.

Can a Broken Heart Cause Physical Pain?
Can a Broken Heart Cause Physical Pain?

Broken Heart Syndrome

Why does heartbreak hurt? When hearts break, the persisting emotional stress can cause a temporary distortion of the heart. The distorted heart’s capacity and effectiveness to pump blood are reduced. This causes intense chest pains and shortness of breath.

The distorted heart condition is called broken heart syndrome. The first official case of a distorted heart was recorded in Japan in 1990. The broken heart syndrome is medically referred to as ‘takotsubo cardiomyopathy’. Takotsubo is a Japanese traditional fishing pot shaped like a damaged heart. Emotional stress like job loss, social isolation, bereavement, domestic abuse, or financial worries may cause the illness.

Can A Broken Heart Cause Physical Pain?

A broken heart has symptoms similar to a heart attack. They include irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), shortness of breath, dizziness, loss of consciousness, nausea, vomiting, and very strong pain in the chest, arm, or shoulder. It is this heightened stressful and painful situation that causes people to talk of having a “heartache” or their “hearts being ripped apart” and even a “gut-wrenching pain.”

Broken heart syndrome or physical heartache is quite common in women over 50 years old. It is a combination of the physical effects of heartbreak where one thinks they are having a heart attack. It is advisable to call for an ambulance when one is experiencing severe heart attack-like symptoms during heartbreak. One cannot be sure whether one is experiencing heartbreak or an actual heart attack.

There aren’t any approved treatments for broken heart syndrome. Cardiologists recommend that people deal with emotional stress by connecting with their inner selves. Self-care, body exercises, meditation, prayer, and keeping connected with family and friends are all important for cardiovascular health. A therapist can also help one heal their broken heart. Maintaining a healthy body through diet and exercise can also help you to overcome the effects of broken heart syndrome. Recent research has established that there is a great recurrence of the condition if the body is inflamed by factors such as high cholesterol.

The Science Behind A Broken Heart

Cardiologists are experienced in seeking out answers for anything relating to the heart. Research is now intense and urgent to establish the true cause of broken heart syndrome and its recurrence with inflammation. Cardiologists at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom and New York University School of Medicine Cardiovascular Centre are leading the research.

Science has established that many body parts that function together with the heart all get affected during stressful situations and heartbreak. It has further been established that empathetic pain influences our perception. The emotional pain relating to the loss of a loved one is also referred to as social pain. Social and physical pain are both registered in the same brain region causing intense sharp chest pain, shortness of breath, increased heartbeat, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and visceral(gut) pain.

The connectivity of emotional pain to physical pain in the brain may lead science to the development of chemicals that support heartbreak healing.

Why Does A Heartbreak Hurt So Much?

A heartbreak hurts so much because of the overwhelming negative emotions one feels at the same time. Anger, anxiety, despair, fear, and worthlessness are some of the feelings one experiences, and they all trigger fight and flight hormones. The sufferer is at the same time still yearning for reconciliation and the brain registers romance. Decision-making becomes confused. The social pain being experienced is augmented with the triggered physical pain and the hurt becomes unbearable.

Science of Heartbreak
Science of Heartbreak

Heartbreak Hormones

A flight or fight response is triggered when one experiences heartbreak. The body then releases stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine. Adrenaline shoots up in the body tightening the muscles and increasing the heart rate for action. The emotional response and organ response to the high adrenaline content is unique to each person.

Sustained levels of high-stress hormones in the body cause unpleasant mental and physical symptoms associated with heartbreak. These include distortion of the heart’s shape and the heart’s inability to pump blood. The heightened levels of stress hormones in the body also contribute to anxiety, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, acne, and weight gain or loss.

Research has established love to be more than emotion. Love functions like nicotine, cocaine, or morphine on the brain releasing the feel-good hormones dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. When heartbreak happens, negative thoughts and feelings begin to settle in. The good hormones are replaced with stress hormones to support the body’s fight-or-flight response.

The Psychological Effects Of Heartbreak

The emotional pain of being dumped, also called social pain, causes physical pain that feels like a heart attack. Affections and yearnings for the lost love still register in the brain as a romantic addiction causing mix-ups in judgment and decision making. So complex are the hormonal activities, thoughts, feelings, and physical processes that a therapist may be required to assist an overwhelmed heartbroken person. The psychological effects of heartbreak can easily become a challenging situation of depression or heart failure when the psychological effects impacting the physical body are not checked.

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