What is the use of crying?

What are the psychological and physiological reasons why we cry?

All human beings with normal psychophysiological functioning (within the average) will have cried and will cry multiple times throughout their lives. In fact, when a baby is born, it is the first thing that is expected of it and the first sign that its organism is functioning properly.

We all know that that crying is natural and that it happens when our eyes itch or when we are sad, but we are going to ask ourselves the following question.But here we are going to ask ourselves what are the mechanisms and what is the use behind it.

Types of tears...

First of all, it is necessary to differentiate between physiological tears and emotional or psychological tears..

Physiological tears

The physiological tears are those that serve to protect our visual system (the eyes), there are those which are reflex y lubricants.

The lubricating tears are those that originate in the cornea, clean and protect the eye from external environmental agents (dust, batteries, etc.). A quantity of lubricating tears of approximately 1 ml is produced per day. The reflex tears are those that protect from external attacks such as gases or chemical irritants, such as those that appear when peeling an onion for example, they contain a large amount of antibodies that will protect the eye from bacterial aggressions.

Emotional tears

Finally we have the emotional tearsThese are the ones we are going to focus on.

These tears appear when there is a strong emotion, the hypothalamus intervenes in the emotional interpretation and sends orders to the ocular organs for the production of tears. According to a study (Walter & Chip, 2006) with a sample of more than three hundred people, on average men cry shedding emotional tears once a month, and women at least five times a month.The difference between the two sexes is explained by hormonal variations during menstruation.

Why do we cry when something moves us?

And why do we produce tears when faced with an emotionally intense situation? They usually occur in the face of a painful situation. secreting tears seems to have an analgesic and palliative function of pain..

According to William H. Frey, a biochemist at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota, the emotional tears we shed in a dramatic situation, whether our own or another's, carry with them a good dose of potassium chloride and manganese, endorphins, prolactin, adenocorticotropin and leucine-encephalin (a natural analgesic) out of the body.

The brain when we cry

In addition, when we cry the brain and when we finish doing it we feel tired and more relaxed, as if we had done a sport, which can help the body rest in stressful situations. as if we had done sport, something that can favor the body rest in stressful situations. In addition, the mere fact of crying, will make us to withdraw into ourselves, introspect and allow us to cover the need to listen to ourselves and take care of ourselves for a few moments, leaving aside the other external things that concern us in the day to day.

The social function of crying

Of course, shedding tears has a very important adaptive social function when we see others crying. When we see others crying, we know that they may need help or different treatment than usual.

Thus, if we add the Biological function with the intrapersonal and relational ones, shedding tears after a loss, for example, will help us to deal with the emotion in a better way.

And why do we sometimes cry when we are happy?

When we experience an emotion of extreme joy, our body sometimes interprets it as "excessive" and our emotional system as a loss of control, in these circumstances, crying helps to restore emotional balance.In these circumstances, crying helps to restore emotional balance.

What if I cannot cry when I am sad?

Some people suffer from an autoimmune disease, Sjören's Syndrome, in which there is a permanent dryness of the tear duct..

But leaving aside the possible physiological problems for the production of tears, some people have problems crying when they have a loss or a strong emotion, usually accompanied by the inability to feel sadness. This can be the result of multiple causes and in many occasions it is related to a bad experience of emotional management at a certain moment. (for example, having suffered a severe depression or having a close person who suffers from it), through which an irrational fear of crying is triggered.

It is also influenced by social norms in certain cultures where crying is "frowned upon", in many cultures, something as natural and innate as crying is "repressed" and it is important to relearn how to cry. it is important to relearn to cry It is important to relearn to cry when it is necessary, because as mentioned above, it has multiple advantages for our emotional health.

Bibliographical references:

• Baños Díez, March Pujol. Ocular pharmacology. Univ. Politèc. de Catalunya; 2004.
• Walter, Chip. Why do we cry? Scientific American Mind. 2006 Dec; 17(6):44.
• William H. Frey, Muriel Langseth. Crying: The Mystery of Tears. Minneapolis: Winston Press; 1985.