Your immune system might be affected
Lack of sleep, stress and poor nutrition can take a toll on your immune system. This means a split could not only leave you out in the cold but could also increase your risks of catching a cold too. When you are a in stressful situation, like a breakup, your body kicks into the “fight or flight” mode and starts producing more adrenaline and cortisol. While the production of such chemicals takes the spotlight, your immune system is left in the shadows, making you more vulnerable to common colds or even the flu.
The longer the stressful period, the higher the stress levels and the weaker the immune system. This situation can also trigger inflammation, which, in turn, makes it even harder to keep illnesses at bay. Luckily, immunity can be boosted in several ways. Here’s one of them!
You might experience visible hair loss
You might feel like it’s difficult to keep your head together after breaking up with your significant other but there might be something else you might have real trouble keeping: your hair. “It’s not uncommon for women to suffer hair loss after the stress of a relationship breakdown,” explains the Institute of Trichologists‘ medical director Dr. Bessam Farjo.
One way for your body to respond to a stressful breakup is to increase its production of the chemical androgen, which can suppress hair growth in women. An additional response to stress would be for the body to send neurotransmitters into your systems that could alter your immune system. This response might determine white cells to perceive hair follicles as infections and try to fight them off, causing hair loss.
A breakup could also cause high blood pressure
An unexpected split is the kind of event that can make anyone’s blood boil. Your heart starts beating faster, your muscles become tense and your blood pressure rises. That’s entirely because of cortisol, the stress hormone released by the adrenal glands into your bloodstream to help you cope with stress. But in doing so, cortisol sends your nervous system into overdrive, telling it that it’s time to fight; unfortunately, the way the nervous system fights back is by sending signals into the body, which end up increasing your blood pressure.
This is not to say that cortisol is not helpful in combating stress. It’s just that too much of it over an extended period of time can lead to anxiety, physical exhaustion, and other possible symptoms such as high blood pressure. Luckily, these natural methods can help you lower your blood pressure and keep it under control at all times.
