Your Body During a Breakup: 10 Scientific Effects Heartbreak Has On The Body

All of us have gone through heartbreaks, it can be the death of a loved one, breakup with a lover, loss of a friend, pet or job or anything else. Heartbreaks teach us some crucial lessons of our lives and push us into growing. But, when you are experiencing breakup you feel, helpless, hopeless and worthless. Here’s what happens to your body during breakup according to science. 

From our vulnerable position, we learn to become strong and independent, from being scared to be lonely we learn to embrace solitude. The process of transformation is tough. Our mental and physical well-being gets disrupted. Heart-breaks not only cause psychological trauma but also brings upon physical harm.

We should be careful about the people we welcome in our lives because heart-breaks are detrimental to our health and well-being. Scientists have found out that heart-breaks cause serious physical damage to our body during a breakup. It’s important that we become cautious of these physical effects.

Here are 10 things which happen to your body during breakup and any type of heartbreak:

(1) You experience frequent cramps:

Cramps are common things you experience during this time. Your body will feel more pain because you are emotionally down.

You might get a migraine or a stomach pain or a muscle pain. Since you are busy crying and grieving, it causes a stress to your nerves thereby initiating cramps.

Related: A Happy Comic About The Real Pain Of Heartbreak

(2) Your period is preponed or postponed:

Periods are either preponed or postponed because of extreme stress. Your menstrual cycle is more likely to get changed if you keep on remaining depressed.

The stress hormones are responsible for such changes. A lot of women’s magazines focus on this particular issue to make women aware of their menstrual well-being.

(3) There’s a big change in your eating habits:

We all understand you don’t like to eat. You had a terrible break-up and you have lost your appetite. This happens to all of us but we need to move on. If we don’t force ourselves to eat, we will grow physically weak and this will invite a lot of health issues. Eating one thing or the other might remind you of him.

Shrug it off. Eat. But don’t eat too much of carbohydrates.

Even if you eat, you will be attracted to carbohydrates because when a person is depressed, they crave carbohydrates. Carbohydrates act as immediate pain-relievers but increase the level of depression in the long term.

Related: Why Heart Breaks Are Necessary Before We Can Find Completeness?

(4) You will get gastritis:

Gastritis is caused by stress. You are most likely ignoring food or gorging upon junks during this time of your life.

This will trigger gastritis and increase stress hormones. Be careful about this and consult a doctor before it aggravates.

(5) There’s a change in your sleeping pattern:

You are going through a very tough phase of your life. You might stay awake the whole night crying in pain or you are simply unable to sleep.

It might happen that you are crying off to sleep during the day. This creates an imbalance in your sleeping pattern. Some people don’t sleep at all (which leads to insomnia) while some keep on sleeping. Your biological clock gets affected in this way. Poor sleep also interferes with the capacity to make sound judgements.

Try getting out and spending time with positive people, eat well and exercise – it will help boost your mood and distract you from your negative thoughts. Hence, you can sleep better!

(6) You lose your immunity:

Since heart-break causes extreme stress, your immune system becomes weaker. You will become more prone to infections and diseases.

Your body during breakup will become physically weak to resist the external attack from viruses and other diseases.

Related: The Dark Side Of Love – When Two People in Love Can Never Be Together

(7) You might go through a period of hair-fall:

Hair-fall is caused due to stress hormones which affect hair follicles. Chances are there that you will go through a period of hair-fall and lose a lot of your beautiful curls.

A 2013 study published in Nature Magazine found a link between long-term ongoing stress and hair color. As per researchers, hormones produced in response to stress can deplete the melanocyte stem cells leaving your hair grey or white.

Be careful. Don’t let depression affect your beauty.

(8) You go through extreme depression:

It’s been really hard for you. You don’t wish to interact with people. You are uncertain about everything in your life. You have developed trust issues. You hate to be left alone but even while you are in a group, you feel like you are completely left out. It’s hard for you to open up your heart to others and talk.

According to research, a lot of people show various signs of depression-like withdrawal, wanting to be lonely, questioning one’s existence, etc which give rise to a lot of mental health issues. The human brain loves love and being in love triggers happy hormones – dopamine and oxytocin. That’s why love is more addicting than drugs, according to science.

When the one you love leaves, the supply of feel-good hormones is cut off and the brain releases stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine, which increases depression.

Don’t entertain the depression. Take a counselor’s help if this grows.

Related: Falling In Love Is Easy, Keeping It Alive Isn’t: Mistakes We Make That Often Leads to A Heartbreak

(9) You fall sick:

Heart-break triggers depression and you will fall mentally sick. If you let this stay with you, it will damage your physical health. A lot of diseases like diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal problems and even Alzheimer’s are caused by depression. The emotional pain of a breakup and physical pain both activate the same part of the brain. Brain scans of people after relationship breakup showed that social pain (the emotional pain from a breakup or rejection) and physical pain share the same neural pathways.

Excess of stress hormones like cortisol stimulates your brain to send too much blood to your muscles, causing them to tense up, ready for swift action. But you are physically inactive due to heartbreak, as a result, you experience swollen muscles causing headaches, a stiff neck and an awful squeezing sensation in your chest.

(10) You might become extremely thin or obese:

Breakups activate the area of your brain that processes craving and addiction. Food cravings can motivate you to eat more and bring a massive change in your weight. Overeating and your poor sleep pattern can have a drastic impact on your body during a breakup.

It’s all about how you cope with sadness and heartbreaks. If you are avoiding food, you will lose weight and if you are binge eating, you will become obese.

It’s tough to recover from breakup but it’s not impossible. A heartbreak is just a passing phase of your life and the process is both physical and emotional. Don’t worry. Take care of yourself and take help when it’s needed.