Title: Physical Symptoms of Grief
Headings: How Grief Shows Up In Your Body
How Grief Shows Up In Your Body
Normal vs. Pathological Grief
How Does Avoidance Harm Your Health?
How Do Role Adjustments Affect Your Health?
What Can You Do to Cope With Grief?
Health Solutions

Content: It was extremely difficult to do anything. … If there’s one thing I want people to know about grief, it’s how awful it can make your body feel." What causes these physical symptoms? A range of studies reveal the powerful effects grief can have on the body. Grief increases inflammation, which can worsen health problems you already have and cause new ones. It batters the immune system, leaving you depleted and vulnerable to infection. The heartbreak of grief can increase blood pressure and the risk of blood clots. Intense grief can alter the heart muscle so much that it causes " broken heart syndrome ," a form of heart disease with the same symptoms as a heart attack. Stress links the emotional and physical aspects of grief. The systems in the body that process physical and emotional stress overlap, and emotional stress can activate the nervous system as easily as physical threats can.