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Can heartbreak be literal?

Anyone with a Zest magazine subscription will be able to read about new research which has revealed that heartbreak actually could make your vital organ stop beating, rather than it just being a turn of phrase.

If you've ever been dumped and you've got a Zest magazine subscription, you can read about how the pain you felt could actually have stopped your heart beating.

Heartache can cause more than just an emotional trauma; it can even stop your vital organ from working briefly.

Zest magazine reports romantic rejection can upset the nervous system and can cause the heart rate to slow so much that it stops beating temporarily, according to researchers at the University of Amsterdam and Leiden in the Netherlands.

The same part of the brain processes both emotional and physical pain, which would explain why it's sometimes hard to sleep and eat following a break-up.

Zest magazine's expert psychologist Emma Kenny said: "This study showed that the more rejected you feel, the slower your heart rate becomes, but it actually only looked at participants' immediate reactions rather how heartache affects you in the long term.

"Those of us who've ever been dumped probably don't need a scientist to tell us that emotional pain can take a long time to heal."

Emma's been the resident psychologist on ITV programme GMTV, which is now Daybreak, since 2007 and she's regularly seen on the This Morning sofa too.

Subscribe and save on a Zest magazine subscription today.

Posted by Claire Sharp ADNFCR-2767-ID-800095358-ADNFCR

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