Crying more than is normal for you may be a symptom of depression or a neurological disorder. If you're concerned about the amount you're crying, talk to your doctor.
Share on Pinterest Crying has a number of health benefits, but frequent crying may be a sign of depression. Crying in response to emotions such as sadness, joy, or frustration is normal and has a number of health benefits. However, sometimes frequent crying can be a sign of depression.
Tearing up can also signal your brain to release endorphins called leucine-enkephalins, which act like pain relievers to boost your mood. “So people start to feel a sense of relief,” says Dion Metzger, M.D., a psychiatrist based outside of Atlanta.
When someone cries, their heart rate increases and their breathing slows down. The more vigorous the crying, the greater the hyperventilation, which reduces the amount of oxygen the brain receives — leading to an overall state of drowsiness.
When tears drain into the sinuses, they mix with mucus and can cause a runny nose. This buildup of mucus and tears can cause pressure in the sinuses, which may lead to a headache. A person experiencing a sinus headache may feel pain and pressure across their forehead, cheeks, or around their eyes.
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 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.
Crying easily can be a symptom of depression, anxiety, or a lot of stress in your life. Since HSPs feel so deeply and can experience sensory overload, we're more susceptible to strong feelings of depression or anxiety. We might feel alone in our sensitivity or isolate ourselves to reduce excess stimuli.
A crybaby is someone who cries very easily and complains a lot.
Biologically, there may be a reason women cry more than men: Testosterone may inhibit crying, while the hormone prolactin (seen in higher levels in women) may promote it.
Crying causes a release of endorphins or feel-good hormones and a reduction in stress hormones like cortisol, which have been linked to breakouts and other skin conditions. Though this may require more research, indications are that occasional bouts of crying can be good for the skin in the long run.
"Crying activates the body in a healthy way," says Stephen Sideroff, Ph. D., a clinical psychologist at UCLA and director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics. "Letting down one's guard and one's defenses and [crying] is a very positive, healthy thing.
Your stress level lowers when you cry, which can help you sleep better and strengthen your immune system.
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.
Some people wrongly believe that, if it's possible to avoid crying, that's the best thing. Crying or feeling your emotions is definitely not a sign of weakness.
“However, it is notable that reduced levels of cortisol can also reduce premature signs of aging. Therefore, crying often may also have an anti-aging benefit.” On the flip side, crying too much might cause excessive broken capillaries around the eyes or nose.
To help constrict blood vessels and reduce symptoms after crying, Zhu recommends washing your face with cold water or applying a cold compresses over the eyelids. Since crying dehydrates you through lost electrolytes, Seelal also advises drinking water and applying a moisturizer.
Tears and all of our other body fluids are salty because of electrolytes, also known as salt ions. Our bodies use electrolytes to create electricity that helps power our brains and move our muscles. Electrolytes contain: Sodium (which accounts for the saltiness)
Crying nonstop for too long likely means there's something wrong. If no amount of soothing seems to work and crying continues for 3 hours, then your doctor may help.
Crying and tension headaches
According to Hafeez, tension headaches are the most common type of headache from crying. “When you cry, your whole body tenses up, especially your head and neck,” she says. “As such, the muscles will constrict after a while, causing the throbbing sensation in your head to begin.”
Emotional tears are more watery and les salty than basic tear secretions and the tissue in your eye. So, through the process of osmosis, the water moves into the saltier ocular tissues, which makes them swell up. And then there's all that furtive eye rubbing to hide his tears, which inflames eyes even further.
According to this comprehensive study, the average American woman cries 3.5 times a month, while the average man sheds a tear 1.9 times a month. So for those of you who wonder if you cry too much, if you're having a good cry one to three times a month, rest assured, you're totally normal (apparently).
Empathy, compassion, physical pain, attachment pain, and moral and sentimental emotions can trigger these tears. They communicate your emotions to others. Emotional tears make you feel more vulnerable, which could improve your relationships.