A study has confirmed people really can die of a broken heart – and certain people are most at risk.

Research has proved grief can be quite literally heartbreaking, as when a loved one dies, we’re more likely to feel physical heartache that can make us ill or even turn fatal if left untreated.

‘Broken heart syndrome’ even has a name, takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which the Cleveland Clinic describes as a ‘sudden weakness in your heart muscle’ which occurs ‘right after a physically or emotionally stressful event’.

Our stress hormones, like adrenaline, can prevent the heart from properly contracting, leaving it weakened and unable to function as normal.

The condition can last anywhere between a few days to a matter of weeks.

The syndrome can be triggered by an emotional or physically stressful event (Getty Images)

Keeping our tickers ticking well is clearly important, as medics warn it’s the most important muscle in our bodies – and a weakened or stressed out heart affects the entire body, effectively reducing the supply of oxygen to our cells and shutting down the key components that give us life.

According to the medical advice, ‘broken heart syndrome’ occurs in about two percent of people who go to hospital for a suspected heart attack.

However, researchers believe the number could be higher as providers don’t always recognize the condition.

Women are more likely to be affected by takotsubo cardiomyopathy, who make up around 89 percent of reported cases.

Yet a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has found men are most at risk of dying from it, at more than double the rate.

The researchers note that this is because men and women suffer from it differently, with women more likely to be ‘triggered by emotional stress’ while ‘physical stress’ is more likely in men.

The team observed almost 2,000 patients over the age of 18 who had been diagnosed with the condition for a period of four years, from 2016 to 2020.

They found the mortality rate of men dying from a ‘broken heart’ was 11.2 percent, compared to only 5.5 percent among the women patients.

Grief and a broken heart can affect our entire bodies (Getty Images)

Still, it notes that females are more likely to present with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, noting that while the ‘predominance is not fully understood,’ hormonal changes, especially in older menopausal women, ‘might play a role’.

As for why men are more likely to die, the researchers concluded they were at increases risk of suffering other complications brought on by the condition, like irregular heartbeat, cardiac arrest, congestive heart failure and stroke.

Dr Ilan Wittstein, a cardiologist at John Hopkins Medicine, told NBC News: “Men may be more at risk for dying and having bad outcomes because they’re less susceptible to begin with. So it takes a more dangerous trigger to precipitate the syndrome.”

The medic warns people with underlying health issues, that particularly relate to the heart like high blood pressure or high cholesterol are also more at risk of dying from a broken heart.

While there’s few ways to stop the incident, doctors say a healthy lifestyle, such as regular exercise and getting enough sleep, can lower the chances of developing heart problems.

A new large-scale sleep study has revealed a common snoozing habit could indicate a more troubling sign.

In the US, an estimated 45 percent of adults hit the hay and occasionally make a bit of a racket, accounting for 90 million Americans, with 25 percent doing it regularly, according to Yale Medicine.

And it can be quite annoying, not only for the loved ones attempting to sleep next to them or their family in the same home, but also for the sufferer who can wake themselves up and struggle to get a good night’s shut eye.

The common night-time habit we’re talking about here is, of course, snoring, though irritation aside, a new study has revealed it could be a sign of a dangerous underlying health condition.

The research, based on the largest study of its kind with 12,000 participants around the world, found those who snore the night away on a regular basis, particularly overweight middle-aged men, are at increased risk of having elevated blood pressure and hypertension, as per The Mirror.

Snoring could indicate a deeper problem (Getty Images)

The Mayo Clinic warns high blood pressure affects the body’s arteries as the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls is too high, forced the heart to work harder to pump blood.

Hypertension is considered to be high blood pressure sustained over time and can pave the way to serious complications like heart failure, stroke, heart disease or kidney disease.

The study, conducted by sleep experts at Flinders University, is the first to use home-based monitoring technologies, ‘sleep trackers’ that were placed under mattresses, over a prolonged period of time of nine months to investigate the suspected link between snoring and hypertension.

Lead author Dr Bastien Lechat from the College of Medicine and Public Health said: “For the first time, we can objectively say that there is a significant connection between regular nighttime snoring and high blood pressure.

“We found that 15 percent of all participants in the study, who were primarily overweight men, snore for more than 20 percent of the night on average and that this regular nightly snoring is associated with elevated blood pressure and uncontrolled hypertension.

“These results emphasise the significance of considering snoring as a factor in healthcare and treatment for sleep-related issues, especially in the context of managing hypertension.”

As well as irritating loved ones, snoring could indicate high blood pressure (Getty Images)

Professor Danny Eckert, Director of Sleep Health at Flinders University and the senior author of the study, also said: “We observed that in those who snore regularly the risk of having uncontrolled hypertension was almost double. This risk almost doubled again in people who snored regularly and had sleep apnoea versus those who did not snore regularly,” reports SurreyLive.

Dr Lechat added: “This is the largest study to date investigating the potential relationships between snoring, sleep apnoea and hypertension using objective assessments in people’s homes, and it reveals important insights into the potential consequences of snoring on hypertension risk.

“The findings of this study pave the way to further investigate whether therapeutic interventions directed toward snoring can reduce hypertension and reduce the risks associated with it.”

A new scientific study is raising awareness of an extremely common habit which could negatively impact memory and cognitive performance, even increasing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

We’re all aware that being constantly glued to our phones has little positive impact on our health or mental wellbeing – but did you realize there’s actually a habit even more common than reaching for your device and tapping away while barely even looking that could be affecting your brain too?

A study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center looked into how prolonged periods of sitting can impact your health.

And while you might’ve always focused on how sitting down a lot without a break could make you more likely to put on weight, it turns out you may have more to worry about when it comes to the effects of increased sedentary behavior when it comes to how it could impact your brain.

If you’re one of the average adults who spends around 10 hours sitting down every day, as per a study by Harvard, you should probably listen up…

It’s even more common than scrolling on your phone… (Getty Stock Image)

Study looking into how prolonged periods of sitting impact the brain

The study included 404 participants – all adults over the age of 50 who hadn’t been diagnosed with dementia when they first entered the study.

They were also required to have ‘adequate auditory and visual acuity, proficiency in English and a reliable study partner’, as well as having been excluded as having any ‘history of neurological disorders, major psychiatric illness or terminal illness’, the study – recently published in Wiley – notes.

The participants took part in actigraphy tests, neuropsychological assessments, alongside brain MRI scans.

An actigraphy is ‘a technique to measure your activity’, Cleveland Clinic explains. It consists of participants being given a wearable device which measures their movement alongside their sleeping patterns and how the cycle affects overall health.

All 404 participants were over the age of 50 (Getty Stock Image)

Neuropsychological testing ‘measures how well your brain works’ testing ‘for a range of mental functions, like reading, language use, attention, learning, processing speed, reasoning, remembering and problem-solving, as well as mood and behavior’, Cleveland Clinic adds.

And an MRI is ‘a type of diagnostic test that can create detailed images of nearly every structure and organ inside the body’ using magnets and radio waves opposed to ionizing radiation, John Hopkins’ Medicine notes.

The study then looked at the results of each of the tests for each participant, comparing the ‘cross-sectional and longitudinal liner regressions’ when it came to brain structure and cognition in relation to how much of a prolonged period of time participants spent seated – an average of 13 hours per day, as reported by Earth.com.

But what did the study find?

Maybe it’s time to invest in that standing desk, eh? (Getty Stock Image)

‘Greater sedentary behavior is related to neurodegeneration and worse cognition’

Even despite ‘most’ participants reported meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendation of at least 150 minutes of ‘Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity’ (MVPA) per week, sitting still negatively impacted participants’ brains.

“MVPA was strongly and inversely correlated with sedentary behavior,” the study adds – so basically, no matter how much you’re exercising, it won’t completely undo the damage caused by sitting for long periods of time.

The research found that the more a participant sat for a prolonged period of time, the worse a participant’s ‘episodic memory performance’.

Greater sedentary time was also linked to ‘smaller hippocampal volume, worse naming, and processing speed’ – hippocampal volume being the size of the structure of your brain that’s responsible for your memory and learning.

The study also revealed that greater sedentary behavior is associated with ‘a smaller AD-neuroimaging signature of cortical thickness’ – meaning, ‘sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease’.

It’s not just a risk of diabetes you have to worry about when it comes to prolonged sitting (Getty Stock Image)

The study’s results subsequently advocate for reducing time seated – ‘particularly among aging adults at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease’.

As quoted by Medical.Net, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Pittsburgh, PhD, Marissa Gogniat urged: “Reducing your risk for Alzheimer’s disease is not just about working out once a day. Minimizing the time spent sitting, even if you do exercise daily, reduces the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”

And it’s not the only study to warn about the dangers of sitting and its impact on the brain either.

How the study’s findings correlate with other research

In 2022, Harvard reported on a 2018 study in PLOS One which found that sitting too much is actually linked to ‘changes in a section of the brain essential to memory’.

The results of the study similarly showed people who sat for longer periods tended to have a thinner medial temporal lobe (MTL).

Since thinning in this brain area is linked to early signs of memory problems and dementia, the researchers echoed that too much sitting might increase the risk of cognitive decline.

So perhaps it’s time to rethink your work from home set up.