# Why do some people \*physically\* feel a "broken heart"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325 "2004-01-20T14:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grapewire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7c8e57/32.png) [@grapewire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grapewire)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/1 "2004-01-20T14:44:14Z")
Other emotions (such as grief or excitement) also seem to be physically _felt_ in the heart, but the heart breaking phenomenon seems to be the most instensely felt (as if the heart is actually in pain). Is there any scientific way to explain this, or is it just a “power of suggestion” type thing? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/2 "2004-01-20T16:24:09Z")
Well **grape** - I’ll not get into the mind / body suppositions associated with your **OP** - But I will say, - be it off the cuff - the heart routinely reacts to the levels of stress, and stress indicator’s in your body. Because stress is processed in the brain, the brain is directly affecting the stress on your heart. As in many situations, a broken heart as it were, is a very difficult thing to process. What you are feeling however, is the stress on your heart muscle from the emotions you are feeling through a loss of some kind as explained in the OP. I don’t have time to get into the nuts and bolts of it right now, but I will say, our brain is an amazing and sometimes scary facet of our existance. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/3 "2004-01-20T22:45:55Z")
The state of being “in love” – as distinguished from loving somebody, and referring to the condition where you are blissfully happy and sigh a lot see colors more vividly and daydream, in addition to which you are rather intensely focused on someone as a love object – is more than an emotional state, it is a biochemical-physical bodily state, and it comes with a nasty hangover penalty if the blissworks go sour. The painful heavy heart is usually joined by a sense of time passing very slowly, disruptions of sleep and eating habits, disrupted breathing rhythms, headache, and a profound sense of misery. Chocolate helps. ---
**Author:** ![Running\_with\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Running\_with\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Running_with_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/4 "2004-01-21T16:26:40Z")
“Some people”? You mean not everyone feels that way? I supposed the cynical part of me could say “then you weren’t really in love”. But I could be wrong, of course. ---
**Author:** ![seaworthy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@seaworthy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seaworthy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/5 "2004-01-21T16:46:32Z")
I do think everyone feels that way. I’m guessing that’s the reason the heart became recognized as the center of emotions. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/6 "2004-01-21T17:20:28Z")
If someone literally gives you a shot of adrenaline(epinephrine) (and a measure of several other hormones) you’d feel your heart jump. Oh yeah baby! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/7 "2004-01-22T01:06:19Z")
> [@seaworthy](#): > > I do think everyone feels that way. Except sociopaths, of course. Back in about 1980 I wanted to do a Masters thesis in Psychology on _the influence of mental health on physical health._ (Couldn’t find a professor who would cooperate. I was ahead of my time.) Hormones have a hell of a lot to do with how we _feel._ I don’t know what the current status of research is, but I believe that our mental state can influence our physical health, via the mechanisms of hormones and biochemistry. Back then I could only find one seemingly well-done scientific study which would support my thesis. Some Israelis had done a comparison involving several hundred women who were to get biopsies for suspicious lumps in breasts. The women were divided into two groups- those of european extraction and those of middle-eastern heritage. They were all given the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which may be described as an SAT for the psyche. MMPI results were compiled **before** the biopsies were done. After the biopsies, MMPI results were compared for women with malignant lumps vs women with benign lumps. No significant differences in MMPI results were found for the women of mid-eastern heritage. This was explained by noting that the MMPI was designed for use on subjects raised in western civilization. It may have no validity for mid-eastern subjects. The european women who had biopses showing malignancy were found to lean toward having personalities which suppressed the outward expression of anger. The researchers hypothesized that anger was turned inward, negatively affecting the health of those women. Have I wandered a bit too far off-topic? Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-physically-feel-a-broken-heart/225325/8 "2004-01-22T01:29:20Z")
You’ve heard that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Most “broken hearts” are probably only indigestion.