What can science tell us about the pain of a broken heart? 6 Minute English

Hard words

The longest, least common words in this video. Say them slowly before you start.

• metaphorically
• understanding
• psychologists
• relationships
• relationship
• reproduction
• superstition
• connections

Transcript: 83 sentences

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1. 0:00 Hi Georgie.
2. 0:01 Hi Neil.
3. 0:02 Now, I want you to think back to the last time you had your heart broken.
4. 0:07 How did it feel?
5. 0:08 It was a couple of years ago.
6. 0:09 And I just remember a really intense, sad emotion.
7. 0:13 But it also sometimes feels like a physical pain in your stomach, doesn't it?
8. 0:17 It does.
9. 0:18 It's like real pain, isn't it?
10. 0:20 And today, in 6 Minute English, we're talking about heartbreak.
11. 0:23 Now, heartbreak is the feeling of sadness we get when we lose someone we love.
12. 0:28 And that pain you feel, it's not just imaginary.
13. 0:32 In this podcast, we'll be understanding how our brains change when we fall in love and asking the question, why does heartbreak hurt so much?
14. 0:41 And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary.
15. 0:45 You can find the full list and the definitions at bbclearningenglish.com.
16. 0:51 Georgie, we're going to start with a quiz question.
17. 0:53 Are you ready?
18. 0:54 I am very ready.
19. 0:56 So, in the 1950s, psychologists noticed a link between children's early bonds with their parents and their romantic relationships as adults,
20. 1:06 but what is this theory called?
21. 1:08 Is it: a) contraction theory, b) attachment theory, or c) superstition theory?
22. 1:15 I think it's b) attachment theory.
23. 1:18 OK.
24. 1:18 Well, we will find out at the end of the programme.
25. 1:21 What's going on in our brains when we fall in love?
26. 1:24 Well, scientists have scanned people's brains while they're looking at a photo of their romantic partner.
27. 1:30 And they found that looking at someone you're in love with activates a part of the brain that also reminds us to eat and drink.
28. 1:39 And do scientists know why being in love impacts our brain in this way?
29. 1:43 So, it's all about survival.
30. 1:45 Our brains have evolved to be this way.
31. 1:48 Dr Lucy Brown explains more to the BBC World Service.
32. 1:52 This is a survival system.
33. 1:54 Nature gave us these systems to be addicted to each other - for reproduction, for protection.
34. 2:02 You're oriented completely toward the other person.
35. 2:06 It's like hunger or thirst.
36. 2:09 Lucy says our brains make us addicted to our romantic partners.
37. 2:13 If you're addicted to something, you want more of it.
38. 2:16 You can literally be addicted to things like drugs or alcohol, but we also use it metaphorically to talk about things we love.
39. 2:24 She says that romantic partners are oriented to each other, which in British English we say 'orientated', and it means they are pointed towards each other.
40. 2:33 They think of each other before other people.
41. 2:36 Neil, is there anything else scientists have discovered from scanning the brains of people in love?
42. 2:41 Well, being in love doesn't just change the way we think.
43. 2:45 It changes our whole identity.
44. 2:48 A 2013 study showed us more about this.
45. 2:51 People were shown statements about themselves - for example, Neil is kind - and the part of the brain we use to think about ourselves lit up.
46. 3:01 When showing the same statements about their partner, the same part of the brain was active - not the part of the brain we generally use to think about others.
47. 3:11 So, Neil, are all of these brain changes that come with being in love actually good for us?
48. 3:17 Well, studies suggest that good social connections help manage stress and support our immune system.
49. 3:23 Professor Zoe Donaldson explained more to the BBC World Service.
50. 3:28 Having really strong social bonds increases your likelihood that you'll survive from just about anything, whether that be cancer, depression, etc.
51. 3:36 And it overall is the number one predictor of longevity.
52. 3:40 So, if you are lonely and you don't have bonds, then your mortality risk goes up in a way that's equivalent to being obese or smoking.
53. 3:48 So, having strong social bonds or close relationships with other people makes you more likely to survive disease, according to Zoe.
54. 3:57 Yes, it's an important factor in our longevity, which means how long we live.
55. 4:01 In fact, Zoe says, being lonely and not having good social bonds increases your mortality risk, your risk of dying, by as much as being obese or smoking.
56. 4:12 OK.
57. 4:12 So, what happens when these bonds are broken, when we experience heartbreak?
58. 4:16 Well, scientists have been looking at this by asking people to look at photos of their exes, their former partners, and scanning their brains.
59. 4:25 They found that heartbreak activates parts of the brain we use when we're in danger or in pain.
60. 4:31 Professor Zoe Donaldson explains more.
61. 4:34 It's literal pain in your brain.
62. 4:36 So, if you look at the parts of the brain that light up, they overlap with the same brain regions that are activated when you feel visceral pain - when you feel actual, you know...
63. 4:45 like you get a burn, or you break a...
64. 4:47 you break a bone.
65. 4:49 OK.
66. 4:49 So, now it's time for the answer to the quiz question I asked you.
67. 4:53 It was about a theory developed by psychologists in the 1950s, which says that children's early relationships with their parents impact their relationships as adults.
68. 5:05 What's the name of the theory?
69. 5:06 I was quite confident about this, wasn't I, Neil?
70. 5:09 I said attachment theory.
71. 5:11 Well, you had a reason to be confident because you are correct.
72. 5:14 Yay!
73. 5:15 OK.
74. 5:15 Let's recap the vocabulary we learnt in this programme, starting with 'heartbreak', which is the feeling you experience after you lose someone you love.
75. 5:24 If you're addicted to someone or something, you want more of it all the time.
76. 5:28 'Oriented' or 'orientated towards' is used metaphorically to mean that someone or something is your main focus.
77. 5:36 Social bonds are the close relationships we have with family, friends and romantic partners.
78. 5:42 'Longevity' means how long you'll live.
79. 5:45 And an ex is a past romantic partner that you are no longer in a relationship with.
80. 5:50 Once again, our six minutes are up, but you can test what you've learned with the worksheet on our website.
81. 5:55 Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
82. 5:58 Thanks for joining us and goodbye.
83. 6:00 Goodbye.

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