The Science of Heartbreak

I was flipping through a Men’s Health magazine and came across this interesting article that looks at heartbreak from a scientific standpoint. It’s long, but you can trim it in half by skipping the awkward first-person segments where the guy bitches about his ex-girlfriend Julia and then tries to brush off that he stalked her. These bits are pretty awful, and this is coming from a guy that writes blog posts riddled with typos and can’t even get the font to consistently stay the same in each post.

According to the story, being madly in love boosts brain activity by creating something called dopamine. This dopamine makes things feel great. The problem is that it’s addictive – just ask crack users. The same thing goes off in their mind when they take some of the rock. Dopamine apparently makes us think we need the relationship because of the good waves it gives off in our brains.

The obvious truth is that most people don’t need, despite the contrary feelings in their body. I found myself nodding my head in agreement with a lot of things in this article (I was literally nodding my head as I read this in the library. I must have looked sketchy).

Some of the stereotypical remedies to a bad breakup are brought up, such as gambling, drinking and finding some new quickly. The best thing to do, according to some researches, is just to forget about them.

Don’t try being friends if you want to be something more at the moment.
Don’t look at photos of them.
Don’t track them on Facebook.
Don’t cry on anyone’s shoulder (at least regularly)
Of course, try not to see them in person.

It’s stupidly simple, and from my experience it works. Just don’t be a creep like the author … or me by nodding your head while reading in public.