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home / diseases & conditions / heart health

severe grief can take a physical toll on your heart, study says

loss is never easy — and now research indicates it may also be hard on the cardiovascular system.

by dave yasvinski

jun 8 2023
read time 2 minute read
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can grief cause you to die from a broken heart?
study participants' blood pressure increased when talking to researchers about the loss of a loved one. getty
losing a loved one doesn’t actually physically cause a broken heart, but it comes pretty close.

a new study , published in the journal psychosomatic medicine, found that severe grief can take a heavy toll on heart health through an increase in blood pressure . the study, which was inspired by the concept of “dying of a broken heart” suggests that grief may even be a risk factor for cardiac events.

“we were looking for a way to test the cardiovascular effects of grief during that vulnerable time in the first year after the loss,” said roman palitsky , lead author and a doctoral student at the university of arizona during the course of the study.

how do researchers study the connection between grief and a broken heart?

researchers recruited 59 participants who had lost a loved one over the past year and asked them questions about separation and attachment — a procedure they referred to as “grief recall.” during these 10-minute conversations, subjects were asked to talk about a moment when they felt particularly alone following the loss of their loved ones. after this, researchers took a measure of their blood pressure.
“when you go to a cardiologist, they don’t just measure your blood pressure,” said mary-frances o’connor, senior author of the study and an associate professor at uarizona who specializes in grief. “they also sometimes do a stress test, like a treadmill, and measure your blood pressure. this is sort of like an emotional stress test.”

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some experts say that putting our trauma online for all to see can help us to work through our emotions and get support, but it can also hurt our mental health.
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prolonged grief is now recognized as a mental health condition
recognizing the impact that grief can have on mental health and emotional well-being offers hope for those whose lives are affected by the inability to let go.
grief is now considered a disorder for people who are unable to resume their daily lives a year after their loss. getty

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the team found that systolic blood pressure (the pressure the heart places on arteries when beating) of participants increased by an average of 21.1 millimetres of mercury in the period following grief recall. this level of increase is on par with what would typically be observed during a medium amount of exercise.
the team found that participants who exhibited the highest levels of grief symptoms during their conversation with researchers experienced the greatest increase to their blood pressure. “this means that it isn’t just the death of a loved one that impacts the heart but our emotional response to loss that is affecting our heart,” o’connor said.
researchers hope their findings will prove useful to clinicians who might want to know that people who are going through the loss of a loved one may face a greater risk of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular concerns.
“it’s important for psychologists and therapists to encourage grieving clients to get their regular medical checkups,” o’connor said. “often, when we’ve been caring for a loved one who’s dying, we neglect our own health care.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with  healthing.ca

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