Why do we cry?
Why do we cry even when we’re not sad?
Experts answer this question simply tears are extremely useful. They help you see clearly. They wash debris from your eyes and they communicate all kinds of feelings.
Still we need to know soo many things about crying and tears, soo let get into the task, Why do we cry?
Types of tears –
We cry three different types of tears. Each has its own job and flows from your tear ducts for a different reason –
▪︎ Basal tears.
These tears coat your eyes all day. Blinking helps spread them evenly over the surface of your eyes. They can improve your vision, hydrate your eyes, and sharpen your focus. They protect your eyes and keep out debris. Your tears also transport oxygen and nutrients to the surface of your eyes.
To help them do their job, they contain –
• Water for moisture
• Mucus to spread the tears over the surface of your eyes
• Oils for lubrication, which also helps prevent your tears from evaporating
• Antibodies and special proteins to resist infection
▪︎ Irritant tears.
These tears gush out of the glands under your eyebrow when you peel onions, throw up, or get debris in your eyes. They wash your eyes out and flush out irritants to protect you.
▪︎ Emotional tears.
These arise from strong emotions. Empathy, compassion, physical pain, attachment pain, and moral and sentimental emotions can trigger these tears. They communicate your emotions to others.
Emotional tears make you feel more vulnerable, which could improve your relationships. Crying often connects people, whether it’s out of grief, love, passion, or another strong emotion.
Emotional tears contain more stress hormones and natural painkillers than other types of tears. They serve a therapeutic role, also known as “a good cry.” Emotional crying, which tends to make you feel better, may be a part of the healing process.
Benefits of crying –
People may try to suppress tears if they see them as a sign of weakness, but science suggests that doing so could mean missing out on a range of benefits. Let’s see what are the benefits of crying –
▪︎ Has a soothing effect
Self-soothing is when people:
• regulate their own emotions
• calm themselves
• reduce their own distress
▪︎ Gets support from others
As well as helping people self-soothe, crying can help people get support from others around them. Crying is primarily an attachment behavior, as it rallies support from the people around us. This is known as an interpersonal or social benefit.
▪︎ Helps to relieve pain
Shedding emotional tears releases oxytocin and endorphins.
These chemicals make people feel good and may also ease both physical and emotional pain. In this way, crying can help reduce pain and promote a sense of well-being.
▪︎ Enhances mood
Crying may help lift people’s spirits and make them feel better. As well as relieving pain, oxytocin and endorphins can help improve mood. This is why they are often known as “feel good” chemicals.
▪︎ Releases toxins and relieves stress
When humans cry in response to stress, their tears contain a number of stress hormones and other chemicals. Crying could reduce the levels of these chemicals in the body, which could, in turn, reduce stress
▪︎ Fights bacteria
Crying helps to kill bacteria and keep the eyes clean as tears contain a fluid called lysozyme.
▪︎ Improves vision
Basal tears, which are released every time a person blinks, help to keep the eyes moist and prevent mucous membranes from drying out. The lubricating effect of basal tears helps people to see more clearly. When the membranes dry out, vision can become blurry.
Why Some People Cry More Than Others
Some people are more likely to cry than others. For starters, women cry 60% more than men. Experts don’t exactly know why.
It could be because men –
• Have smaller tear ducts
• Usually have more testosterone, which may inhibit crying
• Have less prolactin, a hormone that might promote tears
• Are often encouraged not to cry
Trying Not to Cry
It’s best not to hold in emotions all the time, but sometimes it’s important to hold back tears. If you need to control a cry, try to hold back your tears just until you’re in a better place for them. This way you won’t suppress your emotions altogether. You could excuse yourself from the situation and find somewhere more comfortable to release your tears. You could also distract yourself until you find another place to cry. Watch a funny video, read, or chat with a loved one to keep your mind off crying.
Pathological laughing and crying
Crying is a normal human response to a whole range of emotions that has a number of health and social benefits, including pain relief and self-soothing effects.
This neurological condition, which brings uncontrollable tears to the surface of your eyes, is caused by Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other brain diseases. If this happens, be sure to consult your doctor.
If you notice that you’re crying every day during normal activities, you may have depression. Other symptoms of depression include:
• Feeling hopeless, helpless, sad
• Loss of interest in day-to-day life
• Loss of appetite or overeating
• Poor sleep
• Excessive feelings of guilt or worthlessness
If this is the case, it is a good idea to speak to a doctor.
For more informative articles on Psychological health and other health related issues, please visit our website www.santripty.com and also feel free to consult with our experienced team of doctors, get benefits and stay healthy.