14 DAY TRIAL // Divorce, they say, has become such a common occurrence these days that one should get over it in due time. Still, a new study comes to show that the effects of a breakup have often been played down in the past, in the sense that they never actually disappear and have an impact on our health that lingers with us for the rest of our life. Moreover, people who have been through a bad breakup or divorce are more likely to have a bad health, the Daily Mail says, summing up the findings of the study.
Clearly, breaking up with someone is never easy – or, at least, not in practice. Breaking up with someone with whom we have shared our everyday life, be them a spouse or just a partner, is all the more complicated, since it entails a series of lifestyle changes that are bound to turn us upside down. From losing friends to switching apartments and hitting the social scene again, separation from a longtime partner also takes a toll on our health, precisely because of the reasons listed above, researchers have discovered.
What’s even worse, the findings of the study indicate, is that these health impacts do not go away when moving on to another relationship. That is to say, not even finding love again and becoming involved with someone else can cure the broken heart or fix the health damaged by the previous relationship. Researchers claim this happens because our body takes a serious hit when going through the breakup / divorce, which translates into increased stress, not eating right because of the aforementioned lifestyle changes, and going through an overall dark stage.
“Stress affects your immune system and leads to increased inflammation. We’re now thinking that inflammation is at the route of cardiovascular disease and certain kinds of cancer. In addition, during that time you’re not taking care of yourself. You’re eating poorly, you’re not exercising. You’re sleeping terribly. Then your social world, of course, especially in the case of divorce, suffers. You lose half your friends and your in-laws.” Professor Linda Waite, co-author of the study, says of what happens post-breakup/divorce.
In this sense, remarriage cannot be a solution, Waite explains, because the damage has already been done. “If you think of it like money, you took a hit and got some damage. You move from a state where you’re getting damaged to where you’re taking care of yourself but you still have that damage.” Waite adds. Still, even if we now have specific figures telling us our health will be much worse after a bad breakup or after a divorce, that’s not to say we should just accept it and indulge in this state, the professor points out. In order to minimize the damage done, we should make sure we take care of ourselves during these difficult times, even if that may seem impossible to do.