Is heartbreak harder for men?

Do you think it's only women who feel that awful pit in their stomach seeing their ex with someone else? Even the toughest of men can turn into 'wet noodles'. Whoever said that women were the only ones to bereave a failed romance did not know that men too are vulnerable to heartbreaks. Have you forgotten about the famous Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas who left his family and took to alcohol, grieving over his lost love? Well, characters like these are just not born out of imagination. Research proves that men are prone to hit the hardest when they fail in their love life. A recent study by Professor Robin Simon at Wake Forest University, North Carolina revealed that men benefit more than women from the good aspects of a relationship and hence when they are dumped or the relationship does not work out it tends to affect them more. A classic example would be of the retired boxer Mike Tyson who revealed in a US chat show that he was devastated 20 years back when he saw his ex-wife Robin Givens get out of a car, arm-in-arm with actor Brad Pitt. He said, "I went from a hard stallion to a wet noodle." It hurts their ego Relationship experts say that men are more affected when a relation does not work out in their favour. Says Dr Rajan Bhonsle, relationship expert, "Men are very calculative when they are in a relationship. They look at both the sides - good and the bad. So when the relationship fails and the girl moves on, it makes them feel defeated and lost." Guarded about their emotions Researchers explain that when a relation tends to fall apart it has greater impact on a man's own sense of self-worth. Unlike women, men find it difficult to vent out their feelings to their friends or family. Says relationship expert, Seema Hingorrany, "It is a myth that only women suffer more from heartbreak. Men are more prone to heartbreaks since their ego and self-worth is often questioned when his relationship does not work out." She explains that a man is very secretive about his feelings. He tends to keep it within himself till the time he cannot get over it completely. She says, "Men hardly cry over failed romances. But they show various types of withdrawal symptoms like not eating well, getting aggressive, immersing themselves in extra work, not sleeping and taking to alcohol." Says Bhonsle, "Once a man suffers a heartbreak, he tends to judge every other girl or relationship. After a bad experience the next time he does not fall in love with his heart but his head. This is one of the reasons why he keeps comparing and calculating between each relationship." Strong attachments A man takes a longer time to get emotionally attached to his partner but when he does, he gets deeply involved. When he falls in love with a girl, he tends to become too protected about her and cannot bear it if she falls out of love with him. To top it, if the girl starts seeing an attractive guy, the man takes it too personally. Says Bhonsle, "It's almost like a personal failure to him. This makes it all the more difficult for them to move on."