A breakup is as complex as any part of a relationship or living. For example, it can lead to many years of pain, especially for men.
Many people are aware that breakups are often very painful. What a lot don't know is that it can cause a broken heart syndrome. Medically known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy, it develops when a person goes through a very high level of stress that forces hormones to go haywire. This can result to irregular function of the heart muscles, leading to failure.
An end of a relationship can also be responsible for the biological change in mating habits. Previous studies have pointed out that heartbreaks can make more women be more careful of the men they pick, especially if the previous relationships have borne her children.
Women are also more likely to develop a broken heart syndrome. One of the possible causes is the possibility of losing a good-quality partner. Simply put, women have a much bigger stake to lose during a breakup.
Men, on the other hand, tend to move on from a relationship more quickly. But there's a caveat: they can also harbor ill feelings from a breakup much longer than women.
This has been the finding in a new research conducted by Binghamton University's Craig Morris, the school's research associate.
The study, which was participated by more than 5,000 people from many parts of the world, was divided into 2 types of online surveys. In the first survey, they answered a multiple-choice question. In the second part, they were allowed to expound more on their breakup experiences.
Upon analyses, they discovered that women can feel the pain more at 6.8 compared to men at 6.6. Both genders are, interestingly, less likely to complain of physical pain. But men could still feel anger and even depression after many years, which means it takes them a much longer time to get over a major breakup.
Morris believes that by understanding post-relationship grief, proper interventions can be created to control negative effects such as lack of concentration at work, depressive symptoms, and social withdrawal.