9 Emotional pain can cause physical pain.
While heartbreak is primarily an emotional experience, our body actually feels it. As Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan’s Emotion & Self Control Lab tells The Washington Post, “A social rejection hijacks the part of our brain that signals pain to say, ‘Hey, this is a really serious situation,’ because just like physical pain, the consequences could be there.” It’s a physical response that is alerting us to avoid that kind of emotional pain.
