Why We Cry and How It Helps Us

Scientists have found unique compounds in tears that affirm an ancient Chinese understanding of crying

There is a wisdom in letting tears flow and carry away with them some of our grief and stress. tugol/Shutterstock

For me, it’s SPCA commercials or any ad for the local animal shelter. Before I can reach the remote and change the channel, I’m choking back tears at the sight of some forlorn animal—and then the dam breaks, leaving me a sobbing mess.

Crying is something few of us think about until we are in the midst of it. But crying because something has affected us, touching us in some profound way, is more significant than many of us may realize.

In Chinese medicine, crying is an important release. Crying allows us to express emotions that would otherwise get trapped in the body and, if left long enough, lead to disease. A concept called stagnation explains this and works on two levels. Stagnation exists on both an energetic and physical level. Stagnation is a significant cause of disease, and emotional stagnation is no exception.

Crying is one of the ways we can move these things that have built up out of the body and psyche. Crying is a catharsis, allowing us to feel our emotions honestly, and is an avenue for them to leave the body so they don’t build up (causing stagnation).

The Science of Crying

This understanding of crying has been verified in modern medical research in recent decades when crying became a subject of serious scientific inquiry. Although crying is a universal and uniquely human behavior, it had received little serious attention from scientists until the 1980s. Even in four decades of research and study, there are many unknowns about crying, its origins, and why we do it.

Different Types of Tears

Our bodies actually produce three types of tears: reflex, basal, and emotional and each has a specific healing purpose.

Reflex Tears

Reflex tears are 98 percent water and are produced when our eyes come into contact with dust, smoke, or other irritants. Their purpose is to cleanse the eyes of harmful particles. You are probably familiar with these types of tears if you’ve ever cut an onion or been poked in the eye.

Basal Tears

Basal tears are produced continuously to keep our eyes permanently hydrated, and they contain lysozyme, a chemical that acts as an antibacterial that protects our eyes from infection. Basal tears also contain water, lipids, and proteins. These tears are spread across your eye every time you blink, keeping it moist and protected. Basal tears also travel through the tear duct to the nose keeping it moist and bacteria-free.

Emotional Tears

Emotional tears are the most fascinating, and that’s where the insight of traditional Chinese medicine becomes particularly relevant. That’s because researchers have discovered that tears released in response to emotional states seem to contain hormones, proteins, and other toxins that build up in the body during stressful events.

The contents of emotional tears were discovered by renowned biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey in the 1980s, who wrote a book on the subject called “Crying: The Mystery of Tears.” His research suggests that these emotional tears also cause the body to produce endorphins, the body’s feel-good hormones.

Frey’s research concluded that emotional crying not only makes us feel better emotionally, it also has the physiological function of ridding our bodies of harmful stress hormones as well as toxins. These stress hormones and toxins build up after we’ve experienced a stressful event.

Crying is an exocrine, Frey says. That means crying is something related to excretion from the body. Other exocrine functions, such as exhaling, urinating, defecating, and sweating, are all avenues for releasing toxic substances and otherwise maintaining the essential movement through the body.

Research has also shown that our heart rate and breathing decrease after emotional crying, and we enter a calmer emotional and physiological state.

Why We Cry

So then, why do we cry, and does it serve a function other than as a release valve for emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, and joy? As with many elements of human physiology and nature, there are many benefits achieved in a single action.

In the cold language of science, studies suggest that crying may be an attachment behavior designed to elicit help from others. A study at Tilburg University in the Netherlands showed that both men and women would give more emotional support to someone who was crying, which should come as an expected finding, one would hope. There also is evidence that crying releases endorphins responsible for reducing pain.

Research conducted by psychologists at the University of South Florida shows that skin sensitivity increases and breathing deepens both during and after crying.

“It is possible that crying is both an arousing distress signal and a means to restore psychological and physiological balance,” the researchers say. Other scientists suggest that emotional tears may signal distress, promote group behavior, encourage social support, and inhibit aggression.

The Health Benefits of Crying

Emotional tears contain manganese, an essential nutrient—meaning the body requires it to function properly. Lowered levels of manganese can cause impaired blood clotting, skin problems, slowed wound healing, and decreased fertility. Too much manganese is toxic and can cause neurological symptoms that include tremors, difficulty walking, and facial spasms.

Emotional tears also contain potassium, responsible for the proper functioning of nerves, muscle control, and blood pressure. Prolactin is a hormone involved in stress, as well as in immune function. Women generally have higher prolactin levels than men, and its levels rise during pregnancy as it is the hormone that produces breast milk in lactating women. Many studies have found that women cry more than men (by a factor of 5 to 1), and this hormone may be one of the reasons. There is also evidence suggesting cultural reasons, and studies are still being conducted to collect more data.

Another compelling finding suggests that people who cry more tend to suffer from fewer stress-induced diseases, such as heart disease, ulcers, and colitis. This study and others have found that people with stress-induced conditions tend to cry less than their healthy counterparts.

In the West, our culture tends to avoid things it deems unpleasant. So many of us find it easier to bury something painful than release it with a good cry. Life will continuously present us with situations that bring up complicated emotions. Learning to navigate them and feel them fully is one way to cultivate emotional intelligence, and crying is its natural byproduct.

The act of crying is moving these complex emotions out of the body while allowing us to bond with others by asking for help and comfort. Shedding tears is a silent signal to those around us that we are in distress. Receiving comfort and support is one of the ways we connect, and touches something in us all; it’s a reminder that we feel deeply and that we are not alone.