The latest scientific findings show that crying could be healthy. You can find out here how crying can increase our well-being and why it is an important means of communication.
We don’t shed tears just from grief. So there are always so-called basal tears in our eyes, which keep the eyes moist. Reflective tears, on the other hand, occur when a foreign body gets into the eye, for example. If we cry because of a strong emotion, scientists speak of emotional tears.
These are also a crucial aspect that distinguishes us from animals: According to Quarks, humans are the only species capable of emotional crying. And this ability holds some advantages for us.
Crying is healthy: More emotional balance
According to Quarks, the general components of tears are always the same. It doesn’t matter whether dust gets in our eyes or a film makes us cry – the tear fluid is always made up of electrolytes, water and proteins. However, what differs depending on the type of tear is the concentration. For example, emotional tears contain higher amounts of potassium and manganese and the hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropin and leu-enkephalin.
These stress hormones may be one reason for the beneficial effects of crying. Researchers assume that emotional tears have a so-called catharsis effect and that crying is therefore healthy. That is, the tears “cleanse” us of unpleasant feelings, bring us relief, and thus help us to restore our emotional balance.
This is also confirmed by a Dutch study from 2015. As part of the study, the researchers played a sad film to the participants and examined the subjects for over 90 minutes. The results show that while the crying people’s mood was rather low immediately after the film, it quickly stabilized. 90 minutes after the film, the mood even exceeded the initial mood before the film. The researchers therefore see a clear connection between emotional crying and a longer-term mood improvement. In contrast, there was no change in mood among people who did not cry in the film.
Another study from Australia, published in 2019, shows the stress-reducing effects of crying. Researchers played sad or neutral videos to 197 students. The participants then completed a stress test. The results show that the people who had previously cried released fewer stress hormones in the test than the test subjects who did not cry.
Crying as a means of communication
(Photo: CC0 / Pixabay / Counseling)
According to another theory, crying improves our mood primarily because it triggers empathy in those around us. According to Quarks, from an evolutionary point of view, emotional tears primarily serve as a means of communication. Depending on the situation, they signal suffering, helplessness or fear, for example, and thus motivate other people to help us.
If our environment reacts in a supportive manner, we experience comfort – and this, in turn, can also help us to cope with unpleasant emotions.
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