How does grief affect our physical health?

Question

Could someone explain in detail the effects of grief on our physical health and why it causes pain?

Answer 1

In my opinion, this is the main reason we are here. Learn how to forget, let it go. Welcome to The Mourning Project!

Answer 2

What an amazing episode ❤ hope she comes on again!

Answer 3

I never understood why anyone would want to take their own life until my wife of 40 years passed away. The constant pain is so unbearable, I would do anything to not feel that way. I drank every day for three years and felt true physical pain. One day I did not feel that terrible pain. It was like a switch was turned off in my stomach. It became duller and less painful. I was able to think of my wife with love and remember the good times. I started to go out and date again. Eventually I met a wonderful woman and we have been together now for a year. My late wife will always be a part of me and in losing her I realize how much I loved her and appreciate the new love I have found. I show that love to my partner more than I did my whole life knowing how lucky I am to have found another. It was a terrible journey that I survived and I knew that most everyone had gone through it, but it was my loss and it felt like my world ended and I did not want to continue this life. I'm glad I did not take "the easy way out", the suffering has made me a better man.

Answer 4

thank you so much!

Answer 5

This is what I think about having a non traditional life and not a partner. So, when you lose your primary attachment figure, grief and death feels especially vulnerable.

Answer 6

My dog Rex, the greatest dog in the entire world recently passed away definitely need this episode thank you

Answer 7

Andrew! Thanks for asking exactly the question I wanted to ask again and again… I lost my husband suddenly a year ago, and still can’t understand how I’m supposed to mange this hard time of grief (my own and my teenaged kids grief) without him by my side.

Answer 8

Buried my mom's mom on a Monday, my husband passed away that Wednesday, then my dad's mom passed away that saturday.. I was 31 then.. 3.6 years later.. finding joy in every day, small things. Making muffins for the neighbors, sitting with my kids and just listening. I like the ball in the box concept... at first the ball fills the box... then as time and healing goes on, the ball gets smaller, but when it does hit the edges, that feeling is still there. Forever. Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, special moments and accomplishments with my children... my life perspective is forever changed..and it's very hard to take a lot to seriously anymore because you can plan... but I'm a believer in fate. Put your best foot forward and do not apologize for the things you need as you grieve. So many opinions. But only you know.

Answer 9

Dr. O’Connor, your cheerfulness is infectious! May I also live with joy amidst the consciousness of death ❤

PS Dr. Huberman, please issue a trigger warning at the start of the content that su*cide is mentioned. Very helpful conversation but others might be triggered negatively.

More power to both of you!

Answer 10

I was just going to suggest this!! Thank you so much

Answer 11

So well timed… every time

Answer 12

Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that we can talk to our dead loved ones through mindful walking and breathing in the here and now. Not through necromancy, but by being aware that they are present in our bodies, thoughts, feelings, consciousness, and mental formations. They are there in the stillness of lakes, solidity of mountains, freedom of space, and beauty and freshness of flowers

Answer 13

❤ Thank You ❤

Answer 14

“...There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold.”

Answer 15

My oldest child, a trans man, won’t talk to me, and I don’t know why. I have reached out with sincere love and humility to tell him open to hearing from him why, but he is neurodivergent and inflexible, so it’s now just part of my life that I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing. There is a dark hole in me that will NEVER go away.

Answer 16

I needed this…thank you

Answer 17

I've been reading your content for a long time and every time you surprise me with your talent. Thank you for your colorful creations!

Answer 18

My favorite channel✨

Answer 19

I’m having the same kinds of feelings of grief that she described for my desire for marriage. It’s something I’ve longed for all my life and it hasn’t come to pass. I wanted to be a wife and a mother but it will not happen for me. My grief feels overwhelming.

Answer 20

My mom died 2 months ago. I came home from work and found her. It was unexpected and it broke me. Her sister who was like a mom to me passed away 7 months earlier from cancer. I read my mom grieve herself to death. I tried so hard to help her but I couldn’t. Now I feel so alone. I still live in the house I shared with them. I don’t know how to move on from this. I feel stuck in grief. I just don’t know how to get out.