Ladies, does your car insurance ever cause you pain?

So, ladies, car insurance really can be a painful experience; because if you have to split from your insurance provider, for whatever reason, researchers at the University of California have proved that breaking up really can hurt.

Ok, so the scientists are actually talking about social rejection and not the kind of break up that might leave your car without cover, but legend has maintained for aeons that people can die from a broken heart and the Los Angeles professors have now found that socially painful experiences such as relationship breakdown affect the body's physiological responses in such a way that 'pain' is actually experienced.

The findings have shown that a gene which regulates the body's strongest natural painkillers - mu-opoids – can be triggered by socially painful experiences and study results suggest that variation in the mu-opoid gene known as OPRM1, which is associated with physical pain, is related to the levels of ‘social pain' felt when social rejection is experienced.

Evidence was found that people with a rare form of OPRM1 were more sensitive and showed greater brain distress in response to rejection than those subjects who had the more common form of the gene.

Tests were carried out to find out which of the 122 participants had the rare gene and all participants were asked to answer a questionnaire about their feelings and sensitivity to rejection. Then 31 participants were excluded from a virtual ball-tossing computer game and their emotional responses were recorded.

According to one professor the overlap in the neurobiology of physical and social pain makes sense in evolutionary function.

"Because social connection is so important, feeling literally hurt by not having social connections may be an adaptive way to make sure we keep them," she said.

So, it seems that in order to stay part of the crowd, the human neurological system has developed a pain gene which prompts us to strive to be part of a group in order to keep ourselves from being outcast - because being alone does not make great sense for the wider good of humanity.

And when your pals won't get into your Punto for fear of being ‘spotted' and they opt to go to the cinema in your arch rivals natty BMW instead – be warned that it is actual physical pain you are experiencing and not just what has been colloquially termed ‘the green eyed monster'.

However, ladies car insurance for your Punto is likely to be much cheaper than for a Beemer, so you can console yourself with the knowledge that your heart may be hurting but your purse is rejoicing.