Hello lovers, Lissette here for DNews. If you’ve ever fallen in love, this also means

you’ve probably experienced heartache. Breakups are so painful that they can lead to feelings

of loneliness, anger, and even clinical depression. And they affect more than just your feelings.

We’ve already done an episode on how heartbreak literally hurts your heart. And you probably

also know that emotional pain, especially with rejection, can activate the same neurological

regions as physical pain. Yep. To your brain, getting accidentally hit by a rogue baseball

on your shoulder is the same as hearing, “It’s not you. It’s me.” So what is really happening

in your brain when you’re experiencing heartbreak?

To really get a full grasp of this, we have to first look at what’s happening in the

brain when we ARE in love. It’s not just one thing going on. Turns out, there are many

processes involved that together comprise a system of motivation, reward, and addiction.

But, the two major chemicals involved are the neurotransmitters dopamine and oxytocin.

In one study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology, researchers looked at the brains of 17 people

experiencing intense romantic love at its early stages. They showed them either photographs

of their beloved or a neutral acquaintance. And using fMRI technology, the researchers

found that when looking at their loved one, there was greater activation in areas that

are dopamine rich - like the right ventral tegmental area and the medial caudate nucleus.

Interestingly, other studies have shown that the ventral tegmental area also activates

when humans are under the effects of cocaine. So, it’s not really just a metaphor when

songwriters call love a drug and their lovers an addiction. Our brains literally get hooked

on love.

So when we go through a breakup, it can look a lot like withdrawal. Even though we know

it’s bad for us to go stalk our exes’ photos on social media we end up doing it

anyway, because our brains are seeking the reward of all the feel-good chemicals associated

with our ex. What’s more, studies have shown that when deeply in love we include our partners

in our concept of ourselves; One study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective

Neuroscience found that in long-term loving partnerships, several of the same brain areas

associated with maternal love and bonding are activated - so when we lose our partners

it’s like we are losing a part of our identity - we’re being torn apart. All of this helps

explain the deep sense of loss and emptiness after a breakup.

In fact, a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that the brains

of people going through heartache looked a lot like the brains of those who were grieving.

In another study, researchers at Rutgers, Einstein Medicine and Stony Brook, teamed

up and found that when they looked at photos of their exes, the brains of the brokenhearted

had high activation in the ventral tegmental area, ventral striatum, prefrontal cortex,

and cingulate gyrus, which are areas related to “gains and losses, craving and emotion

regulation”. What’s interesting is that there was some overlap in the brains of those

who were happily in love and those who were dumped - particularly in the ventral tegmental

area. Basically, regardless of whether your crush is making you miserable or blissful,

your brain still craves and seeks them - much like a drug. So when you can’t have them,

like because they broke up with you, it feels awful.

But the good news is that just like a drug, you can drop it and recover from it. Which

is good to know since, many scientists argue that we are evolutionarily adapted to fall

in and out of love multiple times throughout our lives.

If you’ve fallen in and out of love, why not share with a website. No domain extension

will help you tell your story like a DOT COM or DOT NET domain name. And because you watch

DNews, you can get 15% off Domain Dot Com’s names and web hosting by using the code DNews

when you check out.

But, to learn more about the physical effects of heartache, check out this video on how

you can literally die from a broken heart.

If you’ve ever dealt with a break up, what did you find helped? Some studies show social

support can be great. Share your thoughts in the comments and remember to subscribe

so you never miss an episode of DNews. Thanks for watching.