Science says: you can die from a broken heart
A broken heart is perhaps the worst pain that exists, I can hardly put the feeling into words. It is an unbearable pain where you think you will never be happy again, while with physical pain you quickly know that it will pass. But did you know that a broken heart is much more dangerous than you think? Because besides the fact that it is mentally absolute hell, your heart can actually fail as a result of heartbreak.
Cardiologist Janneke Wittekoek explains how that works: ‘Things that play in your head have a direct effect on the heart. The broken heart syndrome is the ultimate example of this: it is a stress reaction that is so intense that the heart muscle temporarily becomes paralyzed. The cause is severe emotional stress, usually caused by a loss or sudden physical pain. The high dosage of stress hormones that is released can lead to serious heart failure.’
This manifests itself in chest pain, shortness of breath, tightness, sweating, and nausea; actually all symptoms that resemble a heart attack. But according to Wittekoek, there is indeed a difference: ‘A heart attack is caused by a blocked coronary artery. In a broken heart syndrome, we see that the vessels are nicely open. The problems arise because the heart does not contract anymore at the bottom, but at the top it contracts very strongly.’
Fortunately, it does not occur very often. In Wittekoek's practice, about one percent has what is called broken heart syndrome: ‘You can become very ill from it and furthermore, a severely broken heart syndrome is full blown deadly. Usually, the disease has a mild course and the squeezing power of the heart recovers with the help of medication within three to six months.’
A broken heart can therefore really lead to this serious condition. Well, I find that quite something. And one more thing: no less than 90 percent of the victims of broken heart syndrome are women. That's a shame again. What the cause of that is? The medical world does not yet have a concrete answer to that. According to Wittekoek, there seems to be a correlation with estrogen levels, but not enough research has been done on that yet.
Well, let this especially not be a reason to not want to fall in love anymore, because the feeling of being in love is still the best feeling that exists. And that does not weigh against a broken heart, unless you become a victim of broken heart syndrome, but fortunately, there are significantly few of those.
source: cycle.care
