A study found that crying may have a direct, self-soothing effect on people. The study explained how crying activates the parasympathetic nervous system PNS , which helps people relax. As well as helping people self-soothe, crying can help people get support from others around them. As this study explains, crying is primarily an attachment behavior, as it rallies support from the people around us. This is known as an interpersonal or social benefit.
Research has found that in addition to being self-soothing, 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. As well as relieving pain, oxytocin and endorphins can help improve mood. When humans cry in response to stress, their tears contain a number of stress hormones and other chemicals.
Researchers believe that crying could reduce the levels of these chemicals in the body, which could, in turn, reduce stress. More research is needed into this area, however, to confirm this. A small study in found that crying can help babies sleep better.
Whether crying has the same sleep-enhancing effect on adults is yet to be researched. However, it follows that the calming, mood-enhancing, and pain-relieving effects of crying above may help a person fall asleep more easily. When a tear is produced from the lacrimal gland that sits in-between your eyeball and eyelid, you spontaneously blink, spreading the tear as a film across your eye. Your tear then has two fates; firstly it can drain-off down the lacrimal punctum, like the sink plug in your kitchen, subsequently draining through your nose hence why your nose runs when you cry.
Of course in this break-up, you are having a really good old sob, and so your lacrimal drainage system simply cannot deal with the volume of tears. The resultant excess fluid now cascades over your eyelids and down your cheeks — for your ex-partner to bear witness to and begin to feel really, really bad.
Then there are your reflex tears which that help you to wash out any irritations to your eyes from foreign particles or vapours onion, being the classic example. These are the tears produced in response to that strong emotion you may experience from stress, pleasure, anger, sadness and suffering to indeed, physical pain. Psychic tears even contain a natural painkiller, called leucine enkephalin — perhaps, part of the reason why you might feel better after a good cry!
So in short, your emotional reaction to the break-up triggers your nervous system, which in turn, orders your tear-producing system to activate. What is the point of them though? Is it as simple as an expression in response to a stimulus, as some suggest, or a more complex primal call out - a form of non-verbal communication to elicit help and support from those around you in your time of need?
There are some psychologists who believe you feel better after a cry because of this social input, solidifying of relationships with those sharing in the experience, and collaborative helplessness. How often we see this displayed in the Hollywood movies when the friends rally around the dispatched.
There are many reasons why you might struggle to shed a tear or two. It might be because of a physical ailment but, more often than not, an inability to cry says a lot about our emotional state, our beliefs and prejudices about crying, or our past experiences and trauma.
Everyone is different and some people find it easier to tear up than others. Drop the shame and allow yourself to truly feel your current emotions. Some people may cry at the drop of a hat. Other people may experience fewer emotional upheavals, have different ways to express their emotions, or are simply in more control of their tears.
Crying often gets a bad reputation. But the truth is that it can do us a whole lot of good — both physically and mentally. Crying makes us feel better, even if our problems persist.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology says that we produce a staggering 15 to 30 gallons of tears every year. Nevertheless, there are a few physical reasons why you may struggle to cry:. Besides physical ailments, there are plenty of mental and emotional reasons why someone may struggle to cry. These include:. It might sound contradictory but many people with depression struggle to cry.
When you think of depression, you might picture someone experiencing knock-you-off-your-feet sadness and distress. In fact, some people say their depression feels more like overwhelming numbness or emptiness. Ultimately, this can result in an ability to cry.
Imagine you lived and breathed crafting but, one day, it no longer brought you joy. Or, what if, the idea of reuniting with an old friend made you feel nothing. Simply put, anhedonia is when you lose interest in the social activities and physical sensations that you once enjoyed.
The answer appears to be yes. Medical benefits of crying have been known as far back as the Classical era. Thinkers and physicians of ancient Greece and Rome posited that tears work like a purgative, draining off and purifying us.
Crying is an important safety valve, largely because keeping difficult feelings inside — what psychologists call repressive coping — can be bad for our health. Studies have linked repressive coping with a less resilient immune system, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, as well as with mental health conditions , including stress, anxiety, and depression.
Crying has also been shown to increase attachment behavior , encouraging closeness, empathy, and support from friends and family.
Scientists divide the liquid product of crying into three distinct categories: reflex tears, continuous tears, and emotional tears. The first two categories perform the important function of removing debris such as smoke and dust from our eyes, and lubricating our eyes to help protect them from infection.
Researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain. Popular culture, for its part, has always known the value of a good cry as a way to feel better — and maybe even to experience physical pleasure. The millions of people who watched classic tearjerker films such as West Side Story or Titanic among others will likely attest to that fact.
From early on, boys are told that real men do not cry. When these boys grow up, they may stuff their feelings deep inside and withdraw emotionally from their loved ones, or self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, or even become suicidal. Many men therefore need to learn the skills of how to reconnect with their emotions. Ideally, however, such education should begin early on, at home or at school, with adults making it safe for boys to talk about difficult feelings.
The collective grief over these losses can only be described as staggering. It is no surprise, then, that at times like these our feelings are closer to the surface, and that many people who were not previously prone to crying find themselves tearing up more easily.
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