Heartbroken? There's a scientific reason why breaking up feels so rotten [npr.org]

Rafael Maravilla(PACEs Connection Staff) 2/8/2212:18 PM

By Terry Gross, Photo: mjrodafotografia/Getty Images, February 1, 2022

When her husband left her after more than 25 years together, science writer Florence Williams says her body felt like it had been plugged into a faulty electrical socket.

"I can almost describe it like a brain injury," she says. "I wasn't sleeping at all. I felt really agitated."

Williams wanted to understand her physical reaction to the breakup, so she began speaking to scientists in the U.S. and England about the connection between emotional and physical pain. Her new book, Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, investigates the ways in which extreme emotional pain can impact the heart, the digestive and immune systems, and more.

[Please click here to read more.]

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