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Love hurts, so they say, and most of us will have experienced the upset of a broken heart.But according to scientists, the suffering caused by a break up is not confined merely to our minds.
Psychologists at the University of California have discovered that there is in fact a genetic link between rejection and actual physical pain.
By measuring levels of gene that regulates painkillers in the body, the researchers found that emotional stress causes us to release a natural painkiller, just as it would if we were physically injured.
Each of the 122 participants were assessed as to which form of the OPRM1 pain gene they had and questioned over their sensitivity to rejection before being subjected to a test in which they were, rather cruelly, excluded from a computer game.
Professor Naomi Eisenberger, co-author of the study, wrote: "Individuals with the rare form of the pain gene, who were shown in previous work to be more sensitive to physical pain, also reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity and showed greater activity in social pain-related regions of the brain when they were excluded."
So when your best friend describes her break-up as 'a knife to the heart', remember that heartbreak really does hurt.
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