Yes, the body remembers. Grief can have a huge impact on your physical well-being.
And while many people think of grief in the form of sadness and negative emotions, many forget that our physical body will grieve as well.
Certain negative emotions, together with trauma, can trigger a lot of health issues. Besides health issues, anxiety and depression itself manifest through various body symptoms, causing even more anxiety and health concern.
This blog post is made with a purpose to spread awareness about how grief affects our body health, i.e. physical health.
Chronic fatigue? Aching muscles? I cannot even remember how many physical symptoms of grief I had within the first 3 years of the loss of a child.
Why does our body reacts this way? After experiencing a traumatic event such as a loss of a loved one, your body will want to protect you. It will literally tighten and try to adapt to the new situation which it perceives very dangerous.
Many bereaved parents told me that they experienced change in their sleeping patterns, either through insomnia, or sleeping too much. Even when oversleeping, people would still wake up very tired and not being able to cope with simple daily tasks as they used to before.
Once your energy reserves are burned, you may start being trapped in a constant form of burnout. I’ve already wrote about this, as well as shared some tips that can be useful for you in a burnout period.
Muscle tension and body pain is very common, and if you pay attention, you could easily realize that your body is in the constant state of spasm. It’s not a secret that grief often sits in our shoulders, jaw, and even chest. Many claim that they feel taking a breath is impossible. People start breathing shallowly. Shortness of breath can cause heart palpitations. Learn more about the difference between anxiety and panic attack here.
When it comes to stomach issues, yes, you’ll probably experience those as well. It happens because of anxiety, but also due to the vagus nerve that changes under the stressful period of your life. It can either slow down your digestion, cause nausea and loss of appetite, but it can as well make your digestion erratic.
Weakened immune response is common in the grieving process as well. You may find yourself catching literally every cold and virus that are around you.
The saddest part about all this is that others won’t believe you, even doctors. People will think that you have fell in the trap of hypochondria.
What I wanted to tell you is that you are not imagining it. You are not alone as well.
If you need support, feel free to count on us – bereavedparents.org.
