Love can be intensely exciting, producing euphoria and even dizziness. However, breakups can also result in physical pain and a range of negative emotions.
The negative emotions after breakups are influenced by hormones. With high levels of cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline (stress hormones) and low levels of serotonin and oxytocin in the body ("happiness hormones"), we can experience physical suffering.
Why does a broken heart hurt?
There is a physiological reason why a broken heart can be such a painful experience. When you fall in love, there is a natural release of hormones. These include the "hug hormone" oxytocin and the "feel-good" hormone dopamine. But when you feel you have fallen in love with someone or have broken up with someone, oxytocin and dopamine levels drop while cortisol levels - one of the hormones responsible for stress - increase at the same time. This can raise blood pressure, increase weight, cause acne, and cause anxiety.
Social rejection, such as breaking up with a partner, also activates areas of the brain associated with physical pain, according to a 2011 study in the journal Biological Sciences. Participants in the study were shown a picture of their ex-partner. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images showed that areas of the brain normally associated with physical trauma were activated.
"The neurobiological effects of a broken heart can reach such heights that they compare to physical pain, as evidenced both by self-reported physical symptoms like chest pain and panic attacks, and by patients' descriptions of their feelings, such as feeling knocked out or crushed," said Eric Ryden, a doctor of clinical psychology. "It seems that a broken heart involves some of the same neural mechanisms as physical pain."
Experts believe that the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, which normally balance each other out, can be activated during a breakup. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the body's fight or flight response by accelerating heart rate and breathing, while the parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the body's rest state. Hormones released during grieving activate these two parts of the nervous system.
The brain and heart that respond to these pathways become confused by receiving conflicting messages. This can lead to the interruption of the heart's electrical activity with a lower heart rate variability. This is evidenced by the fact that widows and widowers have a 41% increased risk of death in the first six months after the loss of a spouse.
SOURCE: Tendencias de internet
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