The Benefits of Crying and Why It's Good for Your Health

We've all tried to hold back tears at some point. We get embarrassed for our emotions and try to suppress them, especially in front of other people. But there's nothing to be ashamed of -- crying is a natural human activity. More so, crying is actually good for you.

If you're like me, you might cry when you're mad or frustrated, or even when you're happy (if I see one sappy commercial, it's instant waterworks). While it's sometimes viewed as a sign of weakness, crying is a healthy coping method. When you need a release to get rid of stress or calm down, a good cry might be just what the doctor ordered.

We explain exactly why you cry and why it's beneficial for your health to let those tears flow.

How tears work

There are three types of tears -- basal, reflex and emotional. Basal tears are always present in the eye -- those are what lubricate and protect your cornea. They are the barrier between your eye and the outside world. Reflex tears are what flush your eyes of harmful irritants, like smoke or onion fumes. They are mostly water and antibodies that combat infection. Emotional tears respond to heightened emotions of joy, sadness or fear. 

All tears are produced by the lacrimal glands located above each eye. When you blink, basal tears are spread across your eye to protect it. Without your noticing, tears drain into the puncta of the eye -- the tiny holes on the corners of your upper and lower eyelids -- and then drain into the nasolacrimal ducts in the nose. Reflexive and emotional crying produce more tears than your natural drainage system can handle. The puncta are only about the size of a grain of rice. That's why tears overflow and run down your face. 

Benefits of crying

The purpose and benefits of emotional tears are an evolving field of study. However, current research shows that proteins and hormones are present in emotional tears, not in basal or reflex tears. This suggests that there are relieving qualities only emotional tears offer. 

It can make you feel better

Crying activates your parasympathetic nervous system, slowing your breathing and heart rate and bringing you relief. When strong emotions come on, crying helps restore you back to your normal balanced state. It's naturally how your body responds. Unfortunately, it's not instant relief -- it takes a few minutes of crying and deep breathing for your heart rate to slow and your body to relax. 

Long periods of crying can also help relieve physical and emotional pain. When you cry, your body releases oxytocin and other endorphins associated with pain relief. Crying is also an important part of the grieving process. Research suggests that it might help you process loss. 

Crying can boost your mood

Crying can also help lift your mood. Unlike reflex and basal tears, emotional tears contain stress hormones as well as the mineral manganese. Manganese is associated with anxiety, irritability and nervousness, so crying is one way to release tension. 

You experience the benefits of crying when you embrace your tears. If you try to hold back and feel shameful about your need to cry, it negatively affects your mood. Trying to keep your emotions and stress inside (that's called repressive coping) is linked to poor immune health, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. 

Crying helps you connect with others

Let's be honest: Crying in front of people is uncomfortable. People don't know if they should comfort or sit beside you while you weep. Awkward as it may be, one of the most significant benefits of crying is social connection. 

Crying helps explain to others what you're feeling and experiencing. It allows people to determine how to react and what you need from them. Crying not only strengthens social connections with others, it also increases empathy, closeness and encourages support from family and friends. Tears prompt other people to offer support, ultimately making you feel better. 

Can you cry too much?

You can't cry too much or too little, and there isn't a recommended amount of crying to be healthy. However, certain conditions cause your eyes to produce too many tears, such as blepharitis or epiphora. Or you can produce too few, in the case of dry eye. Our bodies make fewer tears as we age. Dry eye and irritation are common during hormonal changes including pregnancy and menopause. Some medications or cancer treatments can also limit tear production. 

Crying as a response to heightened emotions is completely normal -- and healthy. However, crying may become a problem if it interferes with your ability to function. Crying for seemingly no reason can be a sign of depression. If you think you have signs of anxiety or depression, talk to your doctor. 

Too long, didn't read?

Crying is a completely healthy way to express emotions. While it's generally associated with sadness, crying can be a sign of healing and processing what you're feeling. You feel better after you cry because you've flushed out toxins and stress hormones. Tears are nothing to be ashamed of, and you shouldn't hold them in. Find the space where you feel comfortable embracing your feelings and crying. It's good for you.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Crying is a Way to Reduce Stress

If you've ever watched a good tear-jerker and felt strangely happier afterward, you'll know the power of a good cry. But, in our society, crying is often looked down on. However, it seems that Japan is actively encouraging schoolchildren and workforce to reap the mental health benefits of a good cry. In fact, a former high school teacher and self-styled 'namida sensei' (tears teacher) Hidefumi Yoshida, has been giving lectures about the importance of crying to companies and schools for six years. “The act of crying is more effective than laughing or sleeping in reducing stress. If you cry once a week, you can live a stress-free life,” he said to the Japan Times.

To raise awareness of how crying can reduce stress, Yoshida teamed up with Hideho Arita in 2014, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at Tokyo University. They were inundated with invites to speak with employees about the power of crying in 2015, the year Japan brought in mandatory workplace stress-checks for companies with more than 50 employees. 

 

Global mental health 

Like many other countries, Japan has only recently started to deal openly with mental health issues some individuals experience. Prior to the late 1990s, depression wasn't a term used widely outside the psychiatric profession. Nevertheless, the stigma persists. According to a 2016 London School of Economics study of eight countries, it was found that employees in Japan were the least likely to tell employers about depression, followed by Americans. In Japan, being overworked is a major problem. In fact, the Japanese invented a word for deaths caused by overworking, known as karoshi. 

 

Yet, while Japan is known to have one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world, numbers have, thankfully, dropped by more than one third, 38%, since its peak in 2003. In 2017, numbers were listed at 21,321 cases. Among the G20 countries, Japan has the third-highest rate of suicide, behind South Korea, and Russia.

More than 90% of those who attempt suicide suffer from depression. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) released on World Mental Health Day in October, half of all mental illness begins by age 14. Though most cases remain untreated, despite suicide being the second more common cause of death wrong young people aged 15 to 29. 

 

The WHO reported that depression is among the largest single cause of disability worldwide and it accounts for 4.3% of the global burden of the disease. The economic impact is therefore huge and the LSE study estimates depression collectively costs Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico and South Africa and the USA more than $246 billion a year In Japan alone, this figure totals $14 billion in lost productivity due to employees calling in sick, or being unproductive when they do show up for work. 

 

Globally, the gap between the need for treatment and provision is still wide. Annual spending on mental health is still less than $2 per person and stands at less than $0.25 in low-income countries. Between 35-50% of people who received no treatment for severe mental health disorders in high-income countries, varies to the 76-85% of people in low and middle-income countries.

But, how does crying help? 

In a study of 30 countries, most respondents admitted to feeling better after shedding tears, while more than 70% of clinical practitioners actively encourage clients to cry. Three types of tears are produced by the body: reflex, which clear away irritants; continuous, which keep our eyes moist; and emotional, which studies have found to have certain health benefits. 

 

In the early 1980s, Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis carried out some of the first research into why humans cry. He discovered emotional tears contain stress hormones that are flushed out when we cry. "Crying is an exocrine process... in which a substance comes out of the body. Other exocrine processes, like exhaling, urinating, defecating and sweating, release toxic substances from the body. There's every reason to think crying does the same, releasing chemicals that the body produces in response to stress," he said. 

 

Evidence also shows that crying slows down your breathing, this helps you to relax and stimulates the production of feel-good endorphins. “Crying is an act of self-defense against accumulating stresses,” Junko Umihara, a professor at Nippon Medical School told the Japan Times.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement