Cortisol plays an important role in reproductive success, too. It makes you feel bad when you lose love, which promotes survival by helping you move on. If you remained attached to a person who is not available to you, your genes would be doomed. Cortisol helps your brain rewire to associate your old lover with negative rather than positive expectations, so you start seeking love elsewhere. We wish lost love wouldn’t feel so bad, but it’s interesting to know that the bad feeling has a valuable function.
