Grief is clearly very physical, too. I'm wondering what happens to the body during grief. We often suffer from insomnia, or alternatively, over sleeping. We feel disruptions toe appetite to mood. And i suppose at the limit, right, there are instances of individuals who suffer a really profound loss and that loss seems to play a role in actually causing them to die. It's not unheard of for a grieving to be such an assault on our bodies that it seems to be responsible, in some ways, for our own death.
As we collectively mark the loss of the longest-serving monarch in British history and all that she represented on a national scale, many people are feeling a much more personal impact. The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, talks to Prof Michael Cholbi about what grief is, how losing a public figure can have such a profound impact on our lives, and why there’s value in grieving. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod