Andre
Have you ever lost a loved one? If yes – then you have definitely experienced grief. It is an intense and gruesome feeling of sorrow or sadness.
Grief is generally brought on when you lose someone or something you held dear in your life. It can be a loved one, a pet, or a prized possession with sentimental value. Other events, including divorce, separation, or demise of a family member, may trigger grief.
Grief is mistakenly associated with a state of mind or emotion than a full-body experience, which is farther from the truth. Grief can actually have both emotional and psychological effects on you. Besides, intense grief, such as the death of a life partner or a child, can trigger side effects impacting your physical wellbeing as well.
7 Ways Grief Impacts Your Body
You may suffer from all sorts of physiological impacts while experiencing grief. Here are the seven most common physical symptoms of grief and their effects on your body.
- Grief Changes Your Way of Thinking
Grief can jolt your brain in more severe ways than you can imagine. Not just the event that causes grief, but the process of grieving itself takes a significant toll on your emotions. The sadness, anger, frustration, fear, and worry all adversely affect your central nervous system.
According to research published in 2013 in Clinical Psychological Science, grief can ever cause memory disorientation and disorders in grieving individuals. While grieving, you may find it extremely hard to remember things from your past – except for the memories related to the loved one who has just passed away.
Moreover, you may find it exceptionally painful and hard to perceive a future without the dear one you lost.
2. Grief Can Be Physically Exhausting
People dealing with grief often complain about experiencing extreme fatigue.
According to a study by Harvard Medical School, grieving individuals can feel physical exhaustion while experiencing powerful emotions such as mourning. It causes both a psychological and physiological drain on your body.
Grief can cause physical exertion because of its emotionally taxing nature that can do a number on both your mind and body. You may feel physically drained and exhausted most days and even experience headaches and unusual aches and pains.
3. Grief Can Cause Literal Cardiac Problems
Have you ever heard that someone died of a broken heart? As much as it sounds melodramatic – it is absolutely true, and it can happen.
There is a condition known as Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, also known as “broken heart syndrome,” which involves blood flow issues and chest pains. However, cardiac problems following the death of a loved one are a considerable reality.
Grieving individuals feel ore agitated and frustrated, which can manifest into physical conditions such as shortness of breath and heart palpitations.
A 2012 study involving almost 2,000 participants concluded that the risk of suffering from a heart attack or an acute myocardial infarction increases 21-fold in the first 24 hours of grief causing event.
4. Grief Can Affect Your Immune System and Make You Prone to Infection
Grief has the tendency to crash your immune system, making you vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses and infections.
Immunity and Ageing published a report in 2014 stating that exposure to grief can cause severe immune system issues in people. The severity increases as you grow older, and your body loses efficiency to deal with the spike in stress hormones.
As emotional surge caused by grief causes physical exhaustion, it can force you to neglect self-care, which often puts you at risk of contracting viruses and illnesses from your surroundings.
5. Grief Causes Physical Aches and Pains
The connection between your psychological and physical being is stronger than you thought, and grief magnifies it substantially. Physical aches and pains are some of the common symptoms related to grieving.
According to a BBC investigation in 2016, you experience physical pain because the same part of your brain controls both grief and pain. This part of your brain, known as the “anterior cingulated cortex,” regulates both emotional and physical pain.
Therefore, it is a conceivable concept that your emotional agony crosses over manifesting into physical symptoms such as aches and pains without any visible triggers such as injuries, etc.
6. Grief Causes Sleeping Disorders
Individuals coping with bereavement may commonly experience disrupted sleeping patterns or insomnia. Grief can disturb your sleeping cycle, and this lack of sleep can cause people to die early.
7. Grief Can Upset Your Digestive System
Digestive disruptions and appetite issues can create various problems, even in your daily life. However, grief can really cause havoc within your digestive system.
Have you ever experienced nausea or upset stomach due to a stressful situation? Multiply it 10-fold when dealing with grief.
There is a very complex relationship between your brain and the gut, and grief can throw this link into severe disarray. Grief is one of the most significant stressors to your gut’s nervous system –yes! Your gut has its own nervous system with its own neurotransmitters and signals, just like your brain.
How Do You Manage Grief?
In case you are dealing with grief, you must seek medical help to regulate your body-mind connection. Just because the grieving process has thrown your whole existence out of whack does not mean you cannot get back on track.
Establishing a healthy life routine should be your top priority to mitigate the physical manifestations of grief. Additionally, it would help if you adapted a nutritious diet and exercise daily. It can work as a helpful remedy for pain, digestive and cardiac issues, and sleeping disorders caused by the grieving process.
Talking helps – share your grief with family and friends or a professional mental health expert. It will help you cope with grief efficiently, and you may also learn some healthy coping skills for life.
Remember – you are not alone, and asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a step forward to cope with your grief in a less harmful fashion. It will take time to heal, and there is nothing wrong with that.
You cannot rush grief; however, with compassion and love from your loved ones, and a bit of help from your therapist, you will eventually overcome emotional and physical symptoms of grief and grief itself.
