The Truth About How Emotional Pain Affects Your Body l Emotional Pain Felt Physically l Impact of Your Heartbreak

Emotional pain is a reality of life and dealing with raw emotions of anger, hurt, rejection, betrayal and heartbreak is a battle of its own. But the sadder part is, it doesn't end there in the mind or with your feelings. The mind, the body and the spirit are all interconnected. View it as a paradigm for the human body to keep it healthy. Our digestive, cardiovascular, nervous, immune, reproductive, urinary, endocrine and musculoskeletal systems are all impacted when we are burned out, depressed or distraught over a certain amount of time. According to Dr. Susanne Babbel, a psychologist who specializing in depression: “Studies have shown that chronic pain might not only be caused by physical injury but also by stress and emotional issues.” Think of your first heartbreak and the pain you felt in your chest around your heart. Your emotions were triggering a physical manifestation. Later, we learned to deal with traumas like a broken heart better so we can cope better with trauma. The same hold true for the present. Strong feelings of stress have a negative influence on you all around. Here is the truth on how emotional pain is affecting your body.

It Causes Stomach Issues

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Emotional stress can lead stomachaches that become chronic. Stress can really play a role in these symptoms to the point that they become chronic. Why does the tummy always seem to take the brunt of our emotional pains? We can receive insight on this mystery from Chris Kresser, a recognized leader in the field of ancestral health, Paleo nutrition and integrative medicine. He explained that the gut is impacted due to the changes in "gastric secretion, gut motility, mucosal permeability, barrier function, visceral sensitivity and mucosal blood flow" when we are stressed. The network of nerve fibers and neuron cell bodies receive signaling from the brain and they are sensitive to our emotional distress. Besides the bloating and the tightness in the belly, this is your sign to get a better handle on your stress before things get even more perilous and it becomes an ulcer.

It Irritates Your Digestion System

If we move on from the stomach, another victim stress can claim is your digestive tract. Any inflammation of the gastrointestinal system can make celiac disease worse or Irritable Bowel Syndrome worse. Both are accompanied with bloating, gas, constipation and diarrhea. When we have a “fight or flight” reaction, the body goes on alert to protect itself from danger. This is good when we are faced with a grave threat (like a bear coming towards us) and then the body wants to be in guard. Stress can do this to us. Digestion starts to shut down because of the lack of blood flow from this "fight or flight." This "affects the contractions of your digestive muscles and decreases secretions needed for digestion. Stress can cause inflammation of the gastrointestinal system and make you more susceptible to infection," Everyday Health found. So instead of fighting an imaginary tiger or bear in the wild, you have to fight another beast, stress.

It Causes Weight Gain

Stress can turn off the appetite, which explains why some people can't eat anything! That might be good news for the dieters out there, but for many people, it creates weight gain. Check this out, even if you are not eating ice cream to drown your worries, you could still gain weight. When you are under mental duress or mental anguish, your adrenal glands are pumping out and excreting cortisol. After awhile, it drops off and you stop burning as many calories as before. This cortisol also makes the body store fat more. "Especially visceral fat, which is particularly dangerous because it surrounds vital organs and releases fatty acids into your blood, raising cholesterol and insulin level," Prevention reported. If you have been dieting to no avail, emotional pain could be the reason.

It Causes Sleep Disturbances

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Nothing messes up your sleep like emotional pain. You know insomnia, the tossing and turning and waking up in the middle of the night with your mind racing. Did you know that people suffering from emotional pain deal with trouble sleeping because of underlying issues of anxiety, despair and fear? There is more bad news. An estimated "50 percent of adults with insomnia have a mental health problem, while up to 90 percent of adults with depression experience sleep problems," sciencealert.com found. That is a staggering number of people. When we don't get enough sleep, it reduces cognitive function and makes it harder to learn. People who don't sleep enough are at higher risk for heartaches as well.

It Causes Headaches

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Emotional pain could be causing tension headaches. It can be a stress of a life event, the daily grind of a chaotic schedule that spurs on a headache or emotional upheaval.There are more than tension heads to contend with as well. There are cluster headaches and migraine headaches. Stress is also an important factor in tension-type headaches. "Episodic tension-type headaches can be related to specific instances of increased worry or concern, and usually are helped by eliminating the stressful situation or by over-the-counter analgesics," headaches.org explained. To help relieve the stress, you can take a break from stressful situations. Go for a walk or take a car ride to the local cafe to change the environment and to help you gain composure. Headaches are more than a nuisance. They can keep you from work, play and from enjoying everyday activities.

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