Bereavement 'breaks' your heart.
According to some studies losing a person whom you loved may lead to a heart attack. The study suggests that people are 21 times more likely to have a heart attack within a day of being bereaved. During the following days the risk drops to six times higher than normal, and then declines during the following month.
1,985 people were interviewed during the study. The question was whether they had been bereaved in the period immediately before their heart attack. They also were being asked about having a heart attack during a period when they had not experienced a loss. They found that compared to this earlier period, the risk of having a heart attack increased 21-fold in the 24 hours after bereavement.
Most people will experience bereavement infrequently, and the risk of a bereavement-related heart attack is likely to be much lower than one brought on by other heart attack triggers. Scientists point out that in the first week after losing someone close, people may have an increased risk of a heart attack. Scientists are going to research whether additional care or advice during this period could decrease this risk.
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