Be careful lads, you can really die from a broken heart

Tragic news, today.

If you've ever had your heart broken you'll know how horrible it feels. Like you're drowning, suffocating, and have never experienced the love of another human being your whole entire life. Yeah that pretty much sums it all up. The reason why a broken heart is called a broken heart though is because it also physically feels like your heart is legit tearing in two inside of your chest. In reality, it's probably your lungs struggling to engage in a bit of breathing and your heart having some mild palpitations but it all manifests itself in the very real and very intense feeling of a big ol' broken heart. It's all very lovely. As it turns out though, we weren't being dramatic when we said that we couldn't move from bed for four weeks the last time that someone broke up with us. Because people can actually die from a broken heart. It's happened. And we are worried. 'Broken heart syndrome' or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress cardiomyopathy, was discovered in Japan way back in the 1990s. The syndrome occurs when the heart's pump function stops working due to intense stress or upset. Apparently, the symptoms (and potential outcome) of broken heart syndrome are the same as having a heart attack - you could either drop dead or be at least out of action for a very long time. However, broken heart syndrome is different from the classic heart attack because when it happens there is no evidence of blockage in the organ's arteries. The bad news doesn't stop there either because broken heart syndrome is faaar more common in women. Like, really. Like, 90 percent of cases are female. Scared? Same. According to Harvard Medical School, while the vast majority of cases are female-orientated, broken heart syndrome does most frequently affect women between the ages of 58 and 75. So, you know, hopefully we'll be OK for the time being.