Scientists Discovered the Trick to Actually Getting Over Your Ex
Heartbreak is one of the worst feelings on the planet. Not only does it feel like your soul was just ripped out of your body, thrown in the mud, and stomped all over, but your actual body takes a toll, too - it can be tough to get out of bed or shake that foggy feeling from your brain. Which is why it's so cool that a group of scientists actually studied people reeling from bad breakups and figured out how to help them.
A new study published by researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder in the Journal of Neurosciencefound that the placebo effect helped lessen the physical effects of heartbreak.
"Just the fact that you are doing something for yourself and engaging in something that gives you hope may have an impact," Tor D. Wager, a study author and professor of psychology and neuroscience, wrote in a statement.
Researchers asked 40 volunteers who had been through an "unwanted romantic breakup" in the past six months to bring a photo of their ex and a photo of a friend the same gender as their ex to a brain-imaging lab. The participants' brain activity was tracked by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine while they were shown each of the photos and subjected to physical pain (a hot stimulus on their left arm).
Researchers discovered that the regions of the brain that lit up while experiencing physical and emotional pain were similar. In other words, you're not acting like a total drama queen if you say you don't feel well after a breakup - you might literally not feel well.
"Know that your pain is real – neurochemically real," Wager said.
Next, each participant was given a nasal spray. Half were told it was a "powerful analgesic effective in reducing emotional pain," whereas the other half were told the truth - it was just a simple saline solution.
When the subjects each returned to the fMRI machine to repeat the initial portion of the experiment, the placebo group felt less physical pain and felt better emotionally than the control group.
The researchers found that if you can manage to trick yourself into believing you're feeling all right, soon enough, you'll actually be over your ex.
So! Your scientist-approved steps to getting through a breakup:
1. Wipe those tears.
2. Make plans with friends.
3. Try to have a good time, even if you're feeling crappy.
It'll take time, but eventually, you'll feel like yourself again. You got this, girl.
Hannah Orenstein is the assistant features editor at Seventeen.com. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
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