Crying is often seen as a negative emotion. Indeed, some regard sobbing as a sign of weakness. But when we shed tears we can be happy, sad, angry, frustrated, and moved. In fact, there’s a whole lot more to having a good weep than meets the eye.

Why cry?

Crying can benefit both your body and your mind. But how, exactly?

Crying detoxifies the body

Tears can detoxify the body in a number of different ways. For example, reflex tears can flush away debris, like smoke, dust, and grit, from your eyes. And what about those annoying loose eyelashes?

Continuous tears

Continuous tears lubricate your eyes and help protect them from infection. They help maintain the function of tear ducts and keep eyes wet enough to be comfortable without overflowing.

Emotional tears

The effects of emotional tears are more beneficial than you might think. Tears shed as a result of an emotional reaction containing stress hormones like cortisol and other toxins. Unless flushed away, these toxins can wreak havoc on the body. Having a good cry therefore reduces overall stress levels.

Crying helps to self-soothe

According to many psychologists, crying may be one of your best mechanisms to self-soothe.

Crying as a form of emotional regulation

Self-soothing is considered to be a form of emotion regulation; it activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which in turn helps your body rest and digest.

Crying dulls pain

Having a good cry can help ease physical and emotional pain. When we cry for long periods, our bodies release oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins.

A sense of well-being

Once these feel-good chemicals are released, your body may go into what’s best described as a numb stage. Oxytocin is a powerful hormone normally released when people snuggle up, have intimacy, or bond socially. It therefore gives you a sense of calm or well-being. In fact, its another example of how crying is a self-soothing action.

Crying improves mood

Research suggests that along with helping to ease pain, crying, specifically sobbing, may even improve your mood. In fact, indulging in a spot of weeping now and again is seen as a positive way of lifting one’s spirits. But how does this work?

Cool down

When you cry, you often take in several quick breaths of cool air. Breathing in cooler air can help regulate and even lower the temperature of your brain. The same thing can happen when you yawn. The bottom line is that a cool brain is more pleasurable to your body and mind than a warm brain. Indulging in a sobbing session now and again can therefore boost your mood.

Crying rallies support

Crying is triggered by a range of feelings—from empathy and surprise, to anger and grief. Whatever the reason, opening up the flood gates is a way to let those around you know you are in need of support. This is known as an interpersonal benefit.

Interpersonal benefit

Crying is what’s known as attachment behavior. One only has to hear a baby cry to realize it’s in need of some tender loving care. Likewise, adults cry to obtain comfort and care from others. But this only works if you have a strong social support network to fall back on when the chips are down.

Crying helps you recover from grief

It’s never easy getting your heart and head around the death of a loved one, and crying is often an important part of the grieving process.

The grieving process

The grieving process can be protracted, and involves periods of sorrow, numbness, guilt, and anger. Everyone deals with loss in their own way. Crying can help you process and accept bereavement, and works the same way as shedding tears to dull pain and improve mood.

Cry to restore emotional balance

We all cry for different reasons. It could be in response to something sad, or even funny. Tears can also flow in times of stress, or as a result of being scared or threatened. But what induces the need to cry in situations like these?

A way to recover

It’s all about restoring emotional balance. Crying is sometimes necessary in order to reestablish physical and mental equilibrium. For example, when you’re incredibly happy or frightened about something and cry, it may be your body’s way to recover from experiencing such a strong and overwhelming emotion.

Crying helps a baby breathe

Babies cry. We all know that. But do you know why an infant’s first cry out of the womb is a very important one?

A cry baby is a healthy baby

The first cry of a baby is something that signifies its entry into the world. More importantly, it indicates that a baby is breathing on its own and that its lungs have immediately adapted to life outside the womb.

Crying also helps a baby sleep

Crying may also help babies breathe better at night. While crying at night can of course be an indicator that a baby may be hungry, or in distress, there is also something called controlled crying. Here’s how it works.

Controlled crying

Sometimes referred to as controlled comforting, controlled crying is a sleep training method where parents or caregivers allow an infant to cry for gradually increasing increments of time before returning to comfort them. This encourages babies to learn to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own.

Crying improves communication

The tears of babies and children are often a cry for help or reassurance, and targeted towards a parent or caregiver. Adults have adapted this biological function to an emotional one.

Grown-up tears

Put simply, crying improves communication. Grown-up tears, like vocal sobs, mainly convey the message that they are in need of someone’s help. Indeed, it’s a positive reaction to a state of helplessness.

Crying forges bonds

We communicate with tears. It’s a show of emotion, and vulnerability. If you trust someone enough to cry around them, then you’re demonstrating that you feel close to them. Indeed, crying forges bonds.

Share your tears

The act of crying becomes a more complex social function as people get older. Shedding tears in front of somebody can illicit an empathetic response and an emotional connection. But people rarely cry in front of strangers. Instead, tears are shared with those we’re closest to.

Happy crying helps relax the body

A level of heightened arousal due to positive feelings can lead to crying, so- called tears of joy. Crying occurs during extreme positive emotions indeed, like happiness, wonder, and awe.

Crying has major physical effects

While crying can be the bridge that leads to a more restful state (the self-soothing effect), the act of crying itself is highly arousing. This is because crying is not only an emotional act—it’s a physical one.

Emotional and physical ‘workout’ 

Sure, shedding tears can release toxins, as already noted. But sobbing uncontrollably can induce headache, a runny nose, blotchy skin, sweating, and full-body shakes. In other words, having a good cry actually gives your body a pretty good physical ‘workout.’

Crying lowers blood pressure

If you need to cry, do it. Holding back the tears can increase heart rate and blood pressure. Crying and venting is a cathartic experience, after which blood pressure and pulse rate slowly lowers.

How much should you cry

There are no guidelines for how much crying is too much. Frequency can vary dramatically by age, culture, and gender. For example, the amount babies cry peaks at six weeks, drops off dramatically around age two, and continues to decrease as they get older. But what about adults?

How often do we need to cry to be healthy? 

According to 2017 data published by the American Psychological Association, the average time adults spend crying yearly is approximately two hours and a half. To break that down, the average number of times a year that women cry emotional tears is anywhere between 30 to 64, as as compared with five to 17 times per year for men.

Sources: (Frontiers in Psychology) (Science Direct) (ABC) (Healthline) (American Psychological Association)

Story by Stars Insider