Crying: Your Emotional Tears Have Therapeutic Benefits
Have you felt a sense of calm wash over you after crying?
From time immemorial, society has always asked us to hide our tears. They have been perceived as something weak and not seen as a way humans express joy, sadness, grief, happiness, or frustration.
But did you know that crying is healthy for your body? When was the last time you let your tears flow without stopping them? Without feeling ashamed of them?
Did a sense of calm wash over you after the incident?
The last time I bawled my eyes out was last week. I was always a person who hated crying and still suppress it. I thought it made me weak, and as a person who cannot use logic. Therefore, whenever I cry, they would not be because of one reason, but because of months of pent-up emotions. And yes, I never liked it when others saw me cry.
Only after last week’s “episode” did I realize the effect crying had on me. I felt a sense of calm and inner peace. I was able to think logically and make the right decisions. My mind is usually a junkyard of thoughts, but my mind felt blank after letting out all my emotions, which was better than overthinking everything.
It was then that I thought of researching about the subject and writing about the same.
“Letting down one’s guard and one’s defenses and [crying] is a very positive, healthy thing. The same thing happens when you watch a movie, and it touches you, and you cry. That process of opening into yourself, it’s like a lock and key”. — Stephen Sideroff, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist at UCLA and director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics.
What is crying, and why do humans cry?
Crying is defined as tearing for emotional reasons and is unique to humans and universal. It usually comes with an intensity unparalleled to other human emotions and is a constant factor in our lives from birth to adulthood. You can always find varying frequencies and reasons for which humans cry.
A human can cry due to many events, from the most mundane incidents through life’s most critical situations. Crying is majorly characterized by separation, loss, helplessness, and getting overwhelmed by a strong emotion. The condition can be both positive and negative (especially extremes).
Did you know?
Many of us cry more than the world assumes. On average, a woman cries 3.5 times/month, and a man cries up to 1.9 times a month in the US. Surprising, isn’t it?
Your emotional tears have a plethora of benefits. Some of them are:
1. Has a self-soothing effect on the person
According to a NCBI study (National center for biotechnology information) in 2014, crying has a direct self-soothing effect on people. It also has a relaxing and mood-enhancing impact on the body. Crying helps the person regulate their own emotions and reduce their distress levels. Crying also activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which allows the body to rest and digest.
2. Crying increases support and attachment from others.
Crying is an essential attachment behavior and is intended to elicit care and comfort from your near and dear ones, according to a 2016 study from NCBI. We as humans are said to maintain close emotional with a select number of people throughout life. Crying as an attachment behavior ensures that humans remain in close physical proximity throughout life.
Inter-individual crying is when you cry for another person. This form of crying shows the bond and attachment you have with others, which further increases your bond with the people around you.
3. Detoxifies the body
Emotional tears hold stress hormones and other toxins, which get released out of the body when a person is crying. This phenomenon is called the bleed clearance hypotheses. Many studies suggest that crying flushes out harmful toxins from the body, thus detoxifying it.
4. Dulls and reduces pain
When crying, your body releases endogenous opioids that are well known for their beneficial effects in releasing emotional/physical pain. In many cases, crying is also said to increase your emotional tolerance limit and cause numbness, which might be why I feel “blank,” as stated above.
Interestingly, opioids are also responsible for the self-soothing effects in mammals.
5. Crying helps you recover from grief.
Crying helps you through the periods of sorrow, despair, loss, numbness, grief, and anger in your grieving process. Crying facilitates emotional processing of the loss of a loved one and has therapeutic capabilities on your mental health.
Every person goes through the cycle of grief differently, where some might cry more, and some might cry less. But it is best to let go with the flow and accept the wave of emotions you experience.
Final thoughts
There are also some other benefits of crying, especially in babies. Crying aids them to have a deeper sleep; the first cry sets up the stage for the baby to adapt to external breathing; it acts as a symptom for when it is hungry.
Crying in response to any happiness or sorrow is healthy. It would be best to let go of your emotions from time to time, and building up frustrations might lead to other problems. Do not let society define how you should release your feelings.
However, if you cry a lot and start to interfere with your everyday tasks, it is a problem. I know some people who face breathlessness or body pain after crying (I have also faced this sometimes). High frequencies of crying are also symptoms of depression. In all the situations mentioned above, you should visit your doctor.
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