Is there such thing as a magic pill?
Though physical symptoms aren't guaranteed to come with all experiences of grief, some kinds of grief are so intense that they actually feel more physical than anything else. There are a number of symptoms linked with grief that can all be explained by your body's physiological response to such intense emotional stress.
Increased muscle tension—the body’s way of bracing against the threat perceived by emotional pain—can result in increased aches and pains. Body tension over an extended period of time can cause aches and pains in your muscles as well as your neck, back, or skeletal joints.
Research has shown that grief is linked to increased levels of inflammation in the body, which can lead to cardiovascular issues and other illnesses, not to mention increased mortality.
According to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), grief-related migraines are a result of the circulatory system reacting to stress for long periods of time, because the body rebounds by dilating our blood vessels too much. This causes pressure on surrounding tissue and results in the throbbing pain of headaches. Migraines also often feature vision disturbances, sensitivity to light and sound, and nausea.
Grief is well known to cause temporary digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain or a hollow sensation, queasiness, or nausea. Some people’s natural reaction to grief is actually to throw up.
These digestive problems are often connected with the disruption to normal eating habits or routines, but also are the result of the body’s fight-or-flight response to intense emotional stress; blood is shunted away from the stomach and intestines and towards the major survival organs like the brain, heart, sensory organs, and large leg muscles.
People often gain weight in the days, weeks, and months after experiencing a grave loss. This is due to a combination of factors like lack of exercise, emotional overeating, ordering takeout, or eating junk food, as well as isolation from loved ones—a sad social side effect of grief—who might encourage better eating habits.
The opposite is also known to happen in grief, when people don't eat enough. Either they fail to eat regular meals, they experience a loss of appetite, or they eat nothing at all.
The stress of grief signals an increased secretion of corticosteroids (stress hormones), which can reduce or suppress the immune system and its proper white blood cell production, which makes you more susceptible to viruses and infections. People experiencing grief might find they catch colds or the flu more easily.
As it's linked to a high stress response and lowered immunity, grieving people may find that their skin is breaking out more often.
One study found that people already at high cardiovascular risk might experience an increased risk of a heart attack in the days after the loss of a loved one, Verywell Mind reports.
According to Harvard Health, grief is associated with changes in heart muscle cells and/or coronary blood vessels that prevent the left ventricle from contracting effectively—resulting in a condition called stress-induced cardiomyopathy, or “broken-heart syndrome,” whose symptoms are similar to those of a heart attack: chest pain and shortness of breath.
People with an existing chronic health condition (such as heart failure or diabetes) might experience a worsening of their symptoms due to the body's flood of stress hormones.
Insomnia alone is absolutely torturous to experience, but when you factor in all the problems caused by depriving the body of its necessary nightly recuperation, it quickly becomes a dangerous problem for your short- and long-term health.
From your appearance (i.e. puffiness in the face and eyes), to your cognitive function (i.e. memory), to your physical coordination, the problems that arise from a lack of sleep can ruin your life.
Sleep is tempting to mourners, as it offers a kind of refuge from pain. And while sleep is essential to the human body, sleeping for too many hours at a time, or throughout the day, can actually have adverse effects and make you feel even more lethargic.
The flood of stress hormones that grief releases into the body can also lead to high blood pressure, even if you don’t have a preexisting condition.
The physical impact of grief can also lead to an increased risk of blood clots, caused by a range of factors, from the impact on blood pressure to the feelings of lethargy.
During those first weeks of intense grief, studies have found that people have increased heart rates, meaning they are temporarily at higher risk for heart disease and may be more likely to have heart attacks.
Anxiety can feel more physical than mental at times, and it can look like a lot of different things, including tapping your fingers, pacing back and forth, fidgeting, being unable to sit still, having sweaty or clammy hands or feet, or feeling numbness or tingling in your extremities.
You can also experience an intense sensitivity to sound, dry mouth, a feeling of shakiness or trembling, tightness in the throat or chest, and shortness of breath.
Because grief often involves high levels of stress that also impact your immune system, it has been linked with an increase in the physical experience of allergies.
Even if you have a regular sleeping schedule, grief can make your body feel exhausted for long periods of time, with many citing a feeling of heaviness in the limbs, making it difficult to carry out normal daily tasks.
Grief also makes people who may not have so-called addictive personalities susceptible to developing unhealthy coping mechanisms like drinking, smoking, doing drugs, or other high-risk behaviors.
Kids may display their physical symptoms of grief a little differently than adults, but even though they have difficulty locating or describing what they’re feeling, it also often includes headaches, stomachaches, problems sleeping, changes in appetite, and nightmares.
Even years after you may think you’ve healed from a particular grief, memories can trigger physical responses like your stomach clenching, a chill running down your spine, a sleepless night, or even a panic attack.
Though it's a huge generalization, most studies find that the most intense physical symptoms of grief occur in the first few days and weeks after a loss. Of course, it may last longer, but the symptoms tend to improve with time and many people tend to start feeling better within six to eight weeks. Studies also show most grief symptoms largely resolve within one to two years—not that the grief is "over," but rather that the physical impact is.
It's said that approximately 7% of bereaved people will experience complicated grief, which is the persistent presence of intense symptoms of grief longer than usual. Along with physical symptoms, these people often can't focus on anything else, feel unresolved anger or sadness, and are still struggling to accept the reality of the loss.
Healing is not linear when it comes to grief. However, since most of the physical effects of grief arise from the failure to listen to our bodies and practice the healthy habits we otherwise might, the best way to get ahead on your healing journey is to drink enough water, exercise, eat nourishing foods, sleep well, and make plans to get you up, out of the house, and in conversation with others.
All things considered, grief is still centered in our minds and our perception, therefore all healing of the body should coincide with healing of the mind. That includes everything from speaking to a therapist or grief counselor, leaning on the support of your community, and solo activities like meditation and journaling.
Sources: (Harvard Health) (Verywell Mind) (WebMD) (GoodTherapy) (The New York Times) (Country Living) (TAPS)
Strange things grief does to your body
The emotional pain can express itself physically in many different ways
HEALTH Sadness
Grief is often misinterpreted as solely an emotional pain that lives in our minds, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The powerful experience of grief is a complex, multifaceted, and often uncontrollable reaction our minds and bodies have to a kind of trauma that feels impossible to wrap our heads around, like the loss of a loved one. It targets our mental and emotional state, of course, but the physical aspect is just as intense.
Though physical symptoms aren't guaranteed to come with all experiences of grief, some kinds of grief are so intense that they actually feel more physical than anything else. There are a number of symptoms linked with grief that can all be explained by your body's physiological response to such intense emotional stress.
Intrigued? Click through to see all the varied and unexpected things grief can do to your body.