In addition to the emotional pain, losing a loved one also impacts our physical health. In many cases, individuals who have recently lost a loved one experience various health issues, and some may even pass away weeks or months later.
Losing a loved one significantly affects each person’s health.
Evolution is considered a process that helps organisms become more resilient and survive better. If grief can be dangerous enough to threaten one’s life, then why does this emotion persist?
According to scientists, the most common explanation for this question stems from each person’s childhood.
When we are young and vulnerable, this state has formed a strong attachment, and being close to others was a smart survival tactic at that time. The reactions of children isolated from their mothers resemble the emotions of adults when they are grieving.
A recent study shows that when people grieve and think about the deceased, a brain area associated with reward that is linked to social relationships lights up.
“Searching for” the deceased is also one of the common behaviors for those experiencing loss. This is a characteristic expression of the “resistance” stage in this process. Ultimately, in the “despair withdrawal” stage, most of us will disconnect from the past and seek a better future.
In relation to this issue, a study involving over 1,500 participants found that about one-third of them did not feel overly distressed after losing a loved one.
