New Delhi: Heartbreak is usually spoken of in emotional terms — grief, sadness, loss. But inside the clinic, we see something else unfolding alongside those feelings. Intense emotional shock sets off real, measurable changes in how the brain functions. In many ways, the brain reacts to emotional pain the same way it reacts to physical danger. Dr Suresh Babu P, HOD – Neurology, Arete Hospitals, explained what happens to the brain after a heartbreak.

Patients are often surprised when they land in a neurology clinic after a breakup, bereavement, or sudden life event. Their scans look normal. Blood work doesn’t raise alarms. Yet they insist something feels off — constant tiredness, strange bodily sensations, foggy thinking. What they’re experiencing is real, and it starts in the brain. What’s more unsettling is that these effects don’t always fade quickly. Weeks later, the nervous system can still behave as though the threat hasn’t truly passed.

When emotional distress strikes suddenly, the brain’s alarm system switches on. Areas such as the amygdala and hypothalamus become highly active. These regions evolved to keep us alive when danger appears. The brain doesn’t stop to label the threat as “emotional” or........

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