Crying is a natural response triggered due to a range of emotions, including sadness, frustration, grief, and joy. But are there any real benefits of crying?
Due to the social stigma, most of us try to hold back our tears, especially at work or in public. Our rejection of emotional expressions like crying stems explicitly from childhood. As kids, we were all told to hold back our emotions. Perhaps your parents pacified you by saying, “Stop crying! You are a big boy/girl now.”
We taught ourselves that there are feelings that we must not express in front of others. As we grew into adulthood, we learned to regulate, repress, and sometimes suppress awareness of our feelings. However, seldom do we fail to find an outlet and express those suppressed feelings in inappropriate ways, like lashing out at our family or friends. Emotional restraint can significantly hinder our ability to experience positive emotions, such as joy and love.
Benefits of Crying
1. Relieving Stress
Researchers have found that crying releases oxytocin and endorphins. Such neuro-chemicals make people calm down and help develop a sense of well-being. Oxytocin is a natural stress reliever. Moreover, a higher oxytocin level is associated with lower blood pressures and heart rate. Along with helping you ease stress, crying may lift your spirits as well.
2. Cooling Effect
While sobbing, we take in many breaths of cold fresh air. Breathing in fresh air quickly can help control and lower the temperature of your head. As a result, your mood may improve significantly after a sobbing episode. Such are the benefits of crying.
3. Detoxifying Effect
The following are the three different types of tears:
- Emotional
- Reflex
- Continuous
Continuous tears are ninety-eight percent water, whereas emotional tears consist of stress hormones as well as toxins. Researchers have found that crying helps flush these toxins out of our body, helping reduce mental tension.
4. Fights Infections
Crying helps prevent bacterial infections and keep the eyes clean. Tears contain a fluid called lysozyme, having potent antimicrobial properties that can help reduce the risks of contamination from biohazardous agents.
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5. Prevents Dry Eyes
Dry eyes are a common problem worldwide that can damage the cornea, the transparent outer layer covering the eye, including loss of vision and even permanent blindness. Basal tears help keep the eyes moist and prevent them from drying out.
6. Helps Acknowledge Your Emotions
Emotions don’t always follow the logic. You may find yourself crying for no plausible reason. Letting your feelings take hold of you could help you find the reason behind your sorrow. Once you’re aware of the problem that requires your attention, you’ll be free to find a solution to tackle your obstacles. So, don’t miss out on such benefits of crying.
7. Helps You Sleep Better
While crying, we cleanse our body of various toxins and hormones that contribute to elevated stress levels. The relief provided helps individuals sleep better, restore their immune systems, and avoid weight gain.
8. Helps Clean Sinuses
When we cry, some of the tears drain from the lacrimal sac, down the nasal duct. These tears then mix with the mucus that your sinuses produce, giving you a runny nose, which helps clean out any debris. Hence, we get the same benefit of flushing out bacteria and irritants from our noses as we do with our eyes.
9. Keeps You Healthy
Crying lowers cortisol levels and protects you from falling sick or getting injured. Our body is more exposed to diseases like the cold and flu under high-stress levels. But by crying, you are doing your body a favor and keeping it healthy.
10. Signals to Others that You Need Help
Crying is primarily an attachment behavior that helps gather support from those around us. This behavior is in terms of interpersonal or social benefit. We, humans, are the only animals capable of crying emotional tears. When witnessing another person tearing up, our natural reaction is to comfort the one in need. When we weep in others’ presence, we are letting them into our personal space. This act helps deepen the emotional bonds between friends and family.
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Conclusion
It’s okay to cry, weep, and sob to let your emotions flow through those eyes of yours. Tears are a healthy way to express our feelings. These benefits of crying are sure to help you handle your emotions more positively.
