crying fact

We cry when things turn out in a bad way
We sob when we are reading a love novel
We shed tears when our love ones left us

We may drop tears for many different reason, but do you know that these tears are actually beneficial to us? Do you know that crying is an action that ONLY we, as human beings, are capable of; unlike animal who only use to moisturizes its eye?

“Just cry, it will make you feel a lot better”

I believe that some point of your life, someone would have said the above statement to you. Ever wonder how it really makes you feel better? Well, researches have proved that emotional tears( tears that you shed when feeling stressed) tears actually remove “stress hormones from the body.

This is a vital finding since we know stress hormones cause damage to our body. During the last decade, stress hormones have been shown to cause serious damage to brain cells. Stress hormones have seem to target specific parts of the brain including the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and pre-frontal cortex. Moreover, extensive biomedical studies showed that stress hormones negatively affect literally every system in the body including the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, musculoskeletal, and immune systems.

It is evident that crying is a very good way of eradicating harmful stress hormones in our body. Thus promising us a healthier, better and also happier life.

Crying is most probably the easiest and best way to release emotional pain. When medieval France warrior- Roland died, 20,000 other knights wept so profusely they fainted and fell from their horses. Later, in the 16th century, sobbing openly at a play, opera or symphony was considered the norm for men and women alike.

However, modern society suggest otherwise. Crying mostly happened behind close doors as it is deemed unsightly for one to cry in public. Maybe, as time move on, human may evolve to an extend where we don’t tear anymore…

#Sob story: 10 facts about crying and tears

Why your nose gets sniffly when you cry
It all starts with your lacrimal glands, located on the outer portion of the upper eyes. These peanut-shell-shaped glands create and secrete tears. Most tears will flow over the surface of your eyes and drain out the corners of your eyelids, through the tear ducts, which lead into the nasal cavity. If you cry an abundance of tears, the tears overflow the nasal cavity and start running out of your nose.

Tears help you see better.
Even when you are not crying, tears flow from your lacrimal glands with every blink, moistening your eyes. This moisture - made of water, oil, and mucus - helps to maintain healthy vision. Tears clear your eyes of debris and allow light to enter your eyes so you can see.

Tears flow for 3 reasons.
Think about the times your eyes water, like when you feel overwhelmed by emotion, when you sneeze or have allergies, or when you're peeling onions. Tear experts generally separate the droplets into three types. Basal tears are the kind of tears that clean and lubricate your eyes, supporting your vision. Reflex tears are the ones that stream out when your eyes are irritated by something - the compounds in onions, pollen, bacteria. And emotional tears, well, you know what those are for.

Emotional tears may be an evolutionary adaptation.
We humans may have evolved tears that do more than mere eye-moistening as a means of survival. Evolutionary biologist Oren Hasson suggested that we may have used tears to protect us from predators by making it harder to tell where we were gazing. Or, Hasson wondered, could it be that we evolved emotional tears as a way to show others that we were vulnerable, that we would prefer to make peace? When most people see a crying face, they feel an urge to ask what is wrong, to offer help or empathy. It could be that emotional tears signalled our willingness to trust and become bonded into supportive, protective communities. And crying when we felt fearful or vulnerable or when we felt a sense of unity could then have developed into the kind of emotional crying we all do now and then.

A "good" cry can make you feel better.
Crying is often called "cathartic," a release of pent-up emotions and tensions. But how we really feel after crying may depend on the circumstances and context of your crying – the "when," "where," and "with whom" you cry. In an international study including over 5,000 men and women, certain "good" and "bad" cry patterns emerged. Criers who got support from those around them were more likely to feel better post-sob. Criers got a boost from bawling if they came to a realization, new understanding, or resolution regarding the thing that made them cry.

A "bad" cry may make you feel worse.
Participants in the study mentioned above who suppressed their crying or felt shame as they cried reported that they did not feel as good afterward. A different, smaller study found that crying can be the opposite of cathartic for those with certain depressive symptoms. Those with an inability to experience pleasure did not take pleasure from crying - in fact, they felt worse after they cried than they felt before. The same results applied to those who were out of touch with or unable to express their emotions.

Some people are more prone to cry than others.
The smaller study mentioned above uncovered another pattern about crying. If you are quite empathetic to the suffering of others, you may cry more frequently than the harder-hearted. People who are anxious or neurotic cry both more frequently and more easily than others. And extraverts tend to cry more often during negative situations and are less likely to cry "happy tears."

Babies cry 1 to 3 hours each day.
New parents would probably estimate a much higher tear tally than that! Infants cry to communicate. Their wails and screeches can alert a parent to so many potential issues - hunger, thirst, tiredness, discomfort, boredom, loneliness. Infants cry out for help if they are too cold or too hot, if they have gas, if their diaper is wet, or if they are in the painful throes of teething. Parents may develop an instinctual ability to translate their infant's various cries. And new mothers discover the amazing power of a baby's cry to engorge her breasts with milk. A baby who cries for more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks may have colic, which is excessive crying without a known cause.

Tear ducts can become blocked.
The ducts that drain tears from your eyes can become blocked due to aging, infection, inflammation, injury, tumour, or cyst. A blocked tear means tears can't be drain properly, causing symptoms of excessive tearing and watery eyes. Blocked ducts can also increase risk of eye infection and inflammation.

Crying can become involuntary.
Yes, any of us can be suddenly overwhelmed by the waterworks. But in certain neurological conditions, crying - along with laughing - can happen uncontrollably. Called pathological laughing and crying (PLC), laughter or sobbing can occur at inappropriate times. PLC can appear as a symptom of stroke, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease).

Crying is an emotional release and if you feel the need to cry you should let it out. Here are a few facts about the act of crying. I thought they were interesting, so of course I wanted to share.

Emotional tears have a different chemical composition than tears caused by irritants, such as onions.

Crying in public was considered normal until the Industrial Revolution, when diligent unemotional workers were needed to operate machinery.

Men’s tear ducts are smaller than women’s tear ducts.

One major stress hormone released from the body via tears, prolactin, is found in much higher concentration in women's bodies than in men's. (This makes sense when you consider that the hormone is also implicated in the synthesis of breast milk).

In Japan, crying for emotional release is all the rage, or so reports the Independent. The Japanese call it the "crying boom" - everyone wants a bit of sadness in their lives. Instead of going to a karaoke bar after work to wind down, businesspeople watch weepy films (called "tear films") at these crying clubs. There is also a huge demand for sad TV dramas and books, each graded by its ability to induce tears.