Surely you also cry sometimes, at least secretly. There is hardly a person who never has tears in his eyes. Are you one of those people who don't like to admit it? Then you are in good company. Crying is unjustly associated with shame and weakness.
Sometimes tears spring to our eyes after eating a spicy food. We also have to cry when we cut onions, when there is a draft, and when we have various eye diseases. Many animals feel the same way. The tear fluid protects the sensitive eye at that moment. Crying for emotional reasons, however, is something that only humans do as a rule.
When people cry, it is often for emotional reasons. Tears flow due to sadness, pain, anger, but also out of emotion or joy. Some scientists believe that the visible production of tears is related to the greatly extended rearing period in humans. Crying in the sense of emotional expression proved to be beneficial in the form of a silent signal, because loud cries arouse the attention of the enemy.
Evolutionarily, crying appears to be a reaction that promotes social behavior and bonding in a community and can be understood as a cry for help. It serves as a means of communication, so to speak, which in today's Time however, is rather frowned upon. Like laughter, crying is one of the innate Human characteristics.
Not all tears are the same. There are emotional, basal and reflex tears. Basal tears are there to moisturize, cleanse and protect your eyeball. They coat the cornea like a film. Reflective tears roll as a result of a reflex. Triggers include a foreign object entering the eye, or smoke, wind, and irritating gases. Emotional tears are caused by a strong emotional reaction.
Crying is in and of itself a very complex process. While the affected person loses control over his facial expressions, various facial muscles, nerves and brain structures are activated. Often, due to the sobbing, the ability to speak is limited. In crying newborns, violent contractions of the eye ring muscle can be seen. These stimulate the nerves located in the cornea. Something similar happens during yawning and laughing.
When you cry, you're not just crying water. No matter what reason you cry, an emotional mood or eye irritation, the chemical composition is always the same. The tear fluid contains water, electrolytes and protein.
What is different is the Concentration of the individual ingredients. Reflex tears due to eye irritation by wind, foreign bodies or irritant gases contain less prolactin, serotonin, potassium and manganese than emotional tears. The protein content is also higher in emotionally shed tears. However, the same transmitter, receptor and nerve structures underlie tear formation.
Emotional tears are the result of inner turmoil. Triggers are feelings positive or negative nature. Psychologists at the Universities of Sussex and Ulm concluded that crying occurs when basic psychological needs are either not satisfied or excessively satisfied. They assign crying to the categories of powerlessness, loneliness, excessive demands, media consumption and harmony.
As already mentioned, humans cry primarily due to an extreme emotional state. There are different reasons for this:
Crying is part of mourning and is the most widely accepted part of it. Those who do not cry at the loss of a loved one are considered emotionally cold. Moreover, death is not the only cause for mourning. Also Separations, the serious illness of a loved one and other losses cause this feeling.
Despair is closely related to grief and sometimes even identical. Anyone who loses a loved one is in despair. The loss of a job or an apartment also brings many people to tears. Overwork also often triggers a feeling of despair. This is ultimately based on inner frustration and stress.
Panic and despair are the consequences of the Fear. The feeling of abandonment and hopelessness puts many people in such stress that they cry.
Tears of anger are a sign of inner turmoil. They are a highly visible sign of stress. Often the blood pressure rises in parallel and the cheeks redden.
According to science, loneliness is an unsatisfied Need for closeness. This makes very sad and often makes the affected persons cry. Homesickness and the feeling of being abandoned are also part of these emotions. Heartbreak also falls into this category.
Crying out of joy is the most beautiful way of expressing emotions. Scientists believe that tears roll down the cheeks as a result of intense satisfaction of the need for harmony. That is why we often cry out of emotion, for example at a wedding or romantic movies. When we cry from laughter, it is also a sign of positive emotions.
Crying is a visible expression of your inner emotional world. The tears show those around you that you are in an exceptional emotional situation. This naturally leads to reactions. In general, people who cry quickly appear warm-hearted, honest and sincere, but also manipulable and emotionally unstable.
It is striking that people who cry quickly are considered incompetent. As a result, hardly anyone asks them for help. This has a negative impact on career opportunities. This group of people is often denied higher leadership qualities. Among other things, this fact is based on cultural influences, because crying is still considered a sign of weakness.
In general, women cry more often than men. This is probably at least partly due to upbringing. In many cultures, crying as a sign of an overflowing emotional world is considered a sign of instability, oversensitivity and weakness. This character traits is generally granted to women more readily than to men.
Crying is more accepted among women and girls. Why do women cry more? Because they are more sensitive and because they are allowed to.
According to a survey, a particularly large number of women cry when consuming media, i.e. watching sad movies. Listening to emotional pieces of music and receiving particularly loving gifts also often move people to tears. In 2015, the Society for Consumer Research conducted a study. According to the study, about 83 percent of women shed tears for emotional reasons last year. For men, the figure was only around 43 percent.
Nature would not have invented crying if it did not bring an advantage to man. As already mentioned, the shedding of tears is an evolutionary primal characteristic of man. The advantages of crying are as follows:
On a social level, crying not only brings disadvantages, but often advantages as well. Crying people generate compassion. This in turn increases the willingness to help the crying person. Children often cry for this reason when they need the help of adults. They draw attention to their distress by crying.
Crying acts as an outlet for stress and overwhelm. It often seems that the tears flush the worries out of the body. Many people feel relieved after a crying episode. In fact, crying is capable of relieving stress and cleansing the soul. Scientists speak in this context of the so-called catharsis effect.
This finding is based on the fact that emotional tears contain more stress hormones than reflex tears. However, the dose is relatively small. It has been scientifically proven that crying results in the release of endogenous opioids and oxytocin. This lifts your mood and has a calming effect. As a result, you feel better.
The original function of the tear fluid is to protect the eye. The tears help to transport dust particles and foreign bodies out of the eye and keep the eyeball from drying out. In this respect, humans and animals are the same.
Surely you know the unpleasant experience of bumping yourself on the edge of the table. Tears promptly spring to your eyes. This has a positive effect on your mood. Crying raises your cortisol and adrenaline levels.
Crying encourages social interaction by increasing helpfulness toward the person who is crying. As a rule, the latter receives comfort. This can help overcome problems more easily and be happier again.
It has also happened that crying softens conflicts and mends broken relationships. Crying is a sign of honest and sincere feelings. It can also soften attacks and have a calming effect in an argument.
It is not a weakness to admit one's emotions and give free rein to one's tears. Heavy rain is often followed by sunshine. Those who repress their feelings ensure that the negative emotions build up and eventually burst to the surface anyway. Crying is a natural reaction of the body and no reason to be ashamed.
