For the past two years, I’ve found myself going through a break-up right before Christmas.

Each year it was a different love, but both were serious and heart-breaking in their own way.

The first was my marriage-material boyfriend of four years who decided to make a life in our home town of Nottingham, where I no longer wanted to commute back and forth from. The second was a whirlwind relationship with a passionate French man, who was full of romantic stereotypes and even a surprise trip to Paris.

In both instances, stepping out into the sobering light of single life mid-October, with my rose-tinted glasses on the floor and couples at every turn, has been interesting to say the least.

Obviously break-ups are hard at any time of the year: research has shown that not only is the pain of a relationship ending so real that it can even effect your physical health, but that women suffer more intensely than men. Dr Mark Silvert explains that this is because the body and mind are inextricably linked: “Nightmares, body aches, constant crying and insomnia are all normal after a break-up; the symptoms are very similar to post-traumatic stress disorder.”

When researchers at Binghamton University and University College London asked 5,705 men and women to rate the physical pain of breaking up with someone, they found that the females in the group felt their symptoms much more acutely.

The good news, however, is that although we feel more physical anguish, women also deal better with the aftermath of a break-up better than their male counterparts. Thanks to our ability to harness our social support systems (aka ‘the squad’) and process our emotions, lead author of the study Craig Morris says we recover “faster and more fully”. What’s more, not only do we deal with the situation better in the short-term, but we come out on the other side emotionally stronger, unlike men who tend to self-destruct.

Morris says: “Most women, broadly speaking, seem to be hit hard and fast by a breakup, but are less self destructive, utilise more social support, and recover faster and more fully.”

However, the festive frivolity of Christmas certainly doesn’t make things any easier, and so many people end up turning to an ex at this time of year that the behaviour is now recognised as a new dating trend, dubbed as ’Marleying’.

“Why I’m glad to be single this New Year’s Eve”