“Broken Heart Syndrome”: When Heartbreak Really Breaks Your Heart

Anyone who has ever had a broken heart knows that it can feel like dying. Sometimes you feel the heartbreak physically. So did singer Julia Michaels. In a new TikTok, the 29-year-old said that when she broke up last year, she was so heartbroken her heart “broke” and she had to have surgery. Such an incident is called “Broken Heart Syndrome” – and Michaels is not an isolated case.

The Broken Heart Syndrome is a special form of cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy includes diseases of the heart muscle. However, in the case of broken heart syndrome, it is not caused by the heartbreak itself, but by the stress that can arise as a result of a divorce. Other experiences can also promote broken heart syndrome:

Such experiences cause the body to release stress hormones. The adrenaline can damage heart muscle cells, resulting in loss of function. So the signs of broken heart syndrome are very similar to a heart attack: shortness of breath or chest pain. Unlike a heart attack, the coronary arteries are not clogged and are actually functioning. According to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, it’s rare for broken heart syndrome to become truly dangerous. There is a one percent chance of dying. However, almost all patients recover completely.

In the 1990s, Japanese researchers discovered that serious heartbreak can even lead to heart problems. They called the discovery Tako Tsubo Syndrome. This is because in this syndrome, the heart becomes distorted and resembles one of their squid traps: a round jug with a short neck.