Losing loved ones can have a significant impact on both psychological and physical health. The University of Arizona researched the effects of bereavement on heart function and found that acute bereavement can induce a significant increase in blood pressure. According to the data, bereavement can be a risk factor for heart events.
The study, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, demonstrated an association between the severity of grief and a higher systolic blood pressure response. The idea of ”death of a broken heart,” which can happen after the loss of a loved one, was the impetus for the research, said Mary-Frances O’Connor, senior author of the study and U of Arizona associate professor of psychology. He specializes in grief.
Epidemiological studies have long documented an increase in mortality following the death of a loved one. The study by O’Connor and colleagues looked at blood pressure as a possible contributing factor. The study included 59 participants who had lost someone close to them in the past year.
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“We were looking for a way to test the cardiovascular effects of grief during that vulnerable time in the first year after the loss,” said lead study author Roman Palitsky, who was a doctoral student at U of Arizona when the study was conducted. Held and is now director of research projects in spiritual health at the Emory University Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
Study participants were interviewed and asked to focus on feelings of separation and attachment through a process the researchers call “grief recall.” The researchers talked to each participant for 10 minutes and asked them to share a moment when they felt very lonely after the death of a loved one. The researchers then measured the study participants’ blood pressure.
“When you go to the cardiologist, they don’t just measure your blood pressure. They also sometimes do a stress test, like a treadmill, and measure your blood pressure. It’s like an emotional stress test. is,” O’Connor said.
After recalling the grief, participants’ systolic blood pressure — which is the pressure the heart exerts on the arteries when it beats — increased. From baseline levels, systolic blood pressure climbed an average of 21.1 millimeters of mercury — the unit used to measure blood pressure. This is approximately the same increase as would be expected during moderate exercise.
Of the 59 participants, those who showed the highest levels of grief experienced the greatest increase in blood pressure during the recall of grief.
“What this means is that it is not just the death of a loved one that affects the heart, but our emotional response to the loss is affecting our heart,” O’Connor said. The study’s findings are helpful for physicians, because they show that people who are experiencing grief are at higher risk of high blood pressure and other heart-related problems, O’Connor said.
“It is important for psychologists and therapists to encourage grieving clients to have their regular medical checkups. Often, when we are caring for a loved one who is dying, we neglect our own health care. Ignore,” she said.
In her Grief, Loss and Social Stress Lab in the Department of Psychology, O’Connor studies an intervention called “progressive muscle relaxation.” It teaches grieving people to tense and then completely relax the major muscle groups in their body.
O’Connor said this type of body-based intervention can be helpful in reducing people’s sadness and their stress levels. “I continue to look for interventions that will help address the physical and medical side of grief, in addition to the emotional side,” she said.