There are a number of ways to die. Some more obvious than the others.
According to CDC
Number of deaths for leading causes of death
Heart disease: 616,067
Cancer: 562,875
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 135,952
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 127,924
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 123,706
Alzheimer's disease: 74,632
Diabetes: 71,382
Influenza and Pneumonia: 52,717
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 46,448
Septicemia: 34,828
Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2007, table B
The WIKI says
A broken heart (or heartbreak) is a common metaphor used to describe the intense emotional pain or suffering one feels after losing a loved one, through death, divorce, breakup, moving, being rejected, or other means.
Broken heart symptoms.
A perceived tightness of the chest, similar to an anxiety attack
Stomachache and/or loss of appetite
Partial or complete insomnia
Anger
Shock
Nostalgia
Apathy (loss of interest)
Feelings of loneliness
Feelings of hopelessness and despair
Loss of self-respect and/or self-esteem
Medical or psychological illness (for example depression)
Suicidal thoughts (in extreme cases)
Nausea
Fatigue
The thousand-yard stare
Constant or frequent crying
A feeling of complete emptiness
In extreme cases, death[3]
Or As per Freud
Human beings are not always aware of what they are feeling. Like animals, they may not be able to put their feelings into words. This does not mean they have no feelings. Sigmund Freud once speculated that a man could be in love with a woman for six years and not know it until many years later. Such a man, with all the goodwill in the world, could not have verbalized what he did not know. He had the feelings, but he did not know about them. It may sound like a paradox — paradoxical because when we think of a feeling, we think of something that we are consciously aware of feeling. As Freud put it in his 1915 article The Unconscious: "It is surely of the essence of an emotion that we should be aware of it. Yet it is beyond question that we can 'have' feelings that we do not know about."[1]
Broken heart
Can You Die of a Broken Heart?
Monday August 31, 2009
Is this really possible? Can people die of a broken heart? According to Dr. Holly S. Andersen, "The answer is yes. A traumatic breakup, an extreme argument or experiencing the death of a loved one can elicit the release of stress hormones that can trigger a heart attack in people prone to them, induce a life-threatening arrhythmia or cause a syndrome that mimics a heart attack in otherwise healthy hearts."
Source: Dulce Zamora. "Death from a Broken Heart." Medicinenet.com. 11/24/2003.
Another link
There's an old saying that you can die of a broken heart and according to researchers this actually turns out to be true! According to a Washington Post article, a study done at John Hopkins School of Medicine shows that stress hormones produced by a breakup, a death, a sudden shock, or even a car accident can indeed mirror a heart attack, especially in women.
Broken heart Syndrome
For centuries, doctors have understood that emotional shocks, similar to those listed above, can trigger heart attacks and sudden deaths. Yet broken heart syndrome, technically known as stress cardiomyopathy (myopathy meaning disease), is an unusual phenomenon; no one really knows why it happens.
In one study, researchers analyzed 19 patients who had what appeared to be traditional heart attacks after experiencing sudden emotional stress. All but one were women; most were post-menopausal. (It was learned that women are more vulnerable to suffer from a broken heart, as the occurrence may be correlated with hormones or how women's brains are wired to their hearts.) When researchers compared the 19 patients with other people who had experienced classic heart attacks, it was discovered:
The patients had healthy, unclogged arteries
The levels of stress hormones in their blood, such as adrenalin, were two to three times higher than those suffering from classic heart attacks
An additional explanation as to how people suffer from broken heart syndrome is that grief kicks the body's "fight or flight" response into overdrive. Instead of fleeing, however, the body is placed in a state of prolonged activation, completely void of direction or outlet or purpose. Therefore, this prolonged stressed response takes its toll on the cardiovascular system, causing heart attack-like symptoms.
This is amazing and unbelievable to me. If people know of someone who unfortunately died of a broken heart, please respond.