This is fresh air, I'm Terry Gross.

Heartbreak can make you physically ill.

Take my guest, Science Journalist Florence Williams, when her husband left her after

more than 25 years.

They had to devise a plan for co-parenting.

And she says physically, she felt like her body had been plugged into a faulty electrical

socket.

She lost 20 pounds, she'd stop sleeping, she'd develop diabetes.

It was hard to think straight.

She wanted to understand why the emotional upset she was experiencing was also causing

her body and brain to malfunction.

She found in recent years, science had begun to investigate the biological pathways of

this brand of pain.

She traveled across the U.S. and to England to report on researchers investigating how and

why emotional pain can lead to physical pain and illness.

Her new book is called Heartbreak, a personal and scientific journey.

Her previous book, The Nature Fix, is about the science behind why being in nature can

make us healthier.

She was previously on our show to talk about her book, Bress, a natural and unnatural

history, which tried to answer such questions as, why did chemicals like flamery tartans

show up in her breast milk?

Florence Williams, welcome back to Fresh Out.

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