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.
Today's psychological thought largely concurs, emphasizing the role of crying as a mechanism that allows us to release stress and emotional pain. Crying is an important safety valve, largely because keeping difficult feelings inside — what psychologists call repressive coping — can be bad for our health.
Crying has been scientifically proven to make you feel better. No, it doesn't solve your problem, change the situation, or bring people back into your life. But it does provide you with an emotional outlet that begins the healing process, relieves stress, makes you mentally stronger, and fosters community.
Chan, however, says that if you feel emotional and want to cry, it is best to let it all out rather than holding it back. “Crying can be helpful in some situations, but remember that it's only a means for you to express your feelings, be it anger, sadness, anxiety, frustration or grief,” he says.
Crying helps you recover from grief and pain
These natural chemicals give your brain that “soothing” and “empty” feeling that takes over after you've been crying. These hormones are associated with relief, love, and happiness, and can help you manage powerful emotions associated with grief and loss.
We are most likely to cry in response to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Crying is a social trigger for empathy – a communication system that signals to others 'I need your help and support'.
There are no guidelines for how much crying is too much. A study in the 1980s found that women cry an average of 5.3 times per month and men cry an average of 1.3 times per month.
Your stress level lowers when you cry, which can help you sleep better and strengthen your immune system.
It won't rid you of PTSD and your fears, but let your tears flow and you'll maybe feel a little better afterwards. 'Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain.
Crying can cause your body to produce hormones that make you feel better. You release oxytocin and endorphins after you cry, which can help lift your mood. If you feel emotional comfort when you cry, your mood can improve afterward.
Crying spells, crying over nothing at all, or crying about small things that normally wouldn't bother you may be signs of depression. Inability to concentrate. If you are depressed, you may be forgetful, have trouble making decisions, or find it hard to concentrate.
If a person is crying over a prolonged period, the continuous contractions of these muscles may result in a tension headache. Tension headaches are the most common primary headache, a headache that is not the result of another condition.
If you laugh or cry uncontrollably, suddenly and frequently—even when you're not feeling emotional, this may be a symptom of a condition called PseudoBulbar Affect (PBA), which may be a sign of a neurologic condition or traumatic brain injury.
Crying can lower both your blood pressure and heart rate, studies have found. It does this by activating your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which helps you relax.
Cry all you want — you won't run out of tears
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), you make 15 to 30 gallons of tears every year. Your tears are produced by lacrimal glands located above your eyes. Tears spread across the surface of the eye when you blink.
Improved sleep quality
Sleeping naked certainly removes any possibility of pajama-induced overheating interfering with a good night's rest. It's the absolute final move in shedding layers to stay cool. “There's no question that cooler is better than warmer for overall sleeping,” says Dr. Drerup.
Emotions and thoughts
Your heart rate increases, your breathing gets faster and blood is pumped round your body quicker. A side effect of this is that you may feel sick or dizzy as breathing too fast causes you to take in too much oxygen.
The downsides of crying
The physical downsides of crying are pretty straightforward: puffy eyes, splotchy skin and a headachy feeling that can be chalked up to the strong contractions of your facial muscles while you weep and pressure in your sinuses from the runny nose that accompanies a tear-fest.
A newer study found that the average duration for a crying session was eight minutes. If you're concerned that you're crying too much, if you can't seem to stop crying, or have started crying more than usual, talk to your doctor.
Another study done by biochemist William H. Frey in 1980 found that women cry 5.3 times a month, whereas men cry 1.3 times. Obviously, those specific numbers are slightly different than the other study I noted above, but regardless of the specific number, it's pretty clear that women cry more than men.
30 to 64. The average number of times a year that women cry emotional tears, as compared with 5 to 17 times per year for men, according to a study of self-reports from more than 7,000 people in 37 countries.
There are a lot of reasons, besides having an immediate emotional response, why you may cry more than normal. Tearfulness is frequently associated with depression and anxiety. People often experience the two conditions at the same time. Certain neurological conditions can also make you cry or laugh uncontrollably.
Definitions of crybaby. a person given to excessive complaints and crying and whining. synonyms: bellyacher, complainer, grumbler, moaner, sniveller, squawker, whiner. types: kvetch. (Yiddish) a constant complainer.