Grief can quickly kill due to inflammatory processes

A breakup with a partner or the loss of a loved one really can kill us. Grief causes a deadly inflammation, the study showed.

The sorrow of parting or loss of a loved one can cause an inflammatory processthat poses a threat to life. These are the results of research scientists from Rice University, with the participation of 99 people who have lost a spouse in the last two weeks. All the volunteers took blood tests. It turned out that those people who find it difficult to live on, and who was in a state of depression and mourned deceased loved one, in the blood was observed significantly higher levels of inflammation, compared to those who did not lament so much.

In particular, the grieving, the level of inflammation in the blood was increased by 53,4%. Researchers claim to have obtained the first evidence for the ability of certain symptoms of grief, increase substantially the risk of mortality. Earlier studies have also shown that the basis of almost all diseases in the elderly are inflammatory processes. Science is known that depression is associated with an increased risk of inflammation, and have lost a spouse people often face severe depression, heart attacks, strokes and premature death.

But this is the first study confirmed that grief, regardless of the level of depressive symptoms promotes inflammation. And they, in turn, lead to a negative outcome. Earlier the same group of scientists proved that widowed people have increased risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. (READ MORE)