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Why do we feel heartbreak?

Love is a powerful emotion and can lead us to go to extremes for the people we care about. But when that relationship breaks down, why do we feel such pain?

Heartbreak after love lost has been written about for generations. Who can forget the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet? Or how Rose lost Jack in Titanic? Some of our favourite songs were inspired by heartbreak and as most of us have felt heartbreak in one form or another, relating to their words comes easy. But what causes these feelings? Is it all a figment of our imagination prompted by our society and culture or is there more to it than that? Can we fall sick or even die from a broken heart? And what does science have to say about it?

(Photo: Broken Heart. Credit: Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Last on

Sun 16 Feb 202005:32GMT
BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

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