How love and heartache affect the body

Falling in love – and suffering a broken heart – have some powerful effects on the body.

“Love is the drug” sang Roxy Music back in the early 1970s, and it turns out Bryan Ferry and team were on to something.
When you fall in love, the same areas of your brain affected by alcohol or drugs like cocaine are activated. They stimulate the part of our brain that seeks rewards. And we become, in a way, addicted to those feelings.

Read more: Can you die of a broken heart
So when we fall out of love – or when we break up with someone we’re still in love with – the effects can be as drastic as suddenly giving up a substance we’re addicted to. The Brit Lab, just in time for Valentine’s Day, investigated these very real effects.

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About NELSON PASCHAL KAMUGISHA

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