Many people believe crying to be a sign of weakness, even though it can actually be beneficial for your physical and mental health and overall well-being. Mental health experts believe that crying is an important part of dealing with emotions and overcoming traumatic life events. It is not necessary for people to only cry when they feel sad or stressed; crying can be a natural reaction to happiness and other overwhelming emotions as well. Crying your heart out can even help you overcome your negative feelings easily. Here are some of the benefits of crying:
1. Crying cleanses the eyes
There are basically three types of tears: reflex tears, continuous tears and emotional tears.
Reflex tears help in clearing the debris such as smoke and dust from the eyes. Continuous tears contain 98% of water which helps in lubricating the eyes and protecting them from infection. Emotional tears help in relieving stress and other toxins.
2. Crying helps relieve pain
Crying for a longer period of time helps in releasing endorphins such as oxytocin and endogenous opioids. These happy chemicals can help in relieving both physical and emotional pain. The release of oxytocin in the body can give you a sense of calmness.
3. Crying maintains emotional balance
People not only cry when they are sad, but you might also see people crying when they are extremely happy, scared or even stressed. A research done by the scientists at Yale University stated that crying helps in restoring the emotional balance. Crying when you are extremely happy or scared, can help your body relieve the emotional tension, thus making you feel better.
4. Crying relieves stress
Crying during stressful times can be helpful for many people. Scientists have found that crying can reduce the levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol in the body. The release of cortisol hormone in the body can bring out the fight or flight response, which increases inflammation.
5. Crying helps you sleep better
It may sound harsh but if parents would let their baby cry for a short while, the baby might sleep better and for longer periods of time. A study conducted in the year 2015 stated that crying can help babies sleep better as it is known to calm the baby and enhance their mood as well. This research has not been done on adults, but many experience similar results.
6. Tears can fight a bacterial infection
Though there has not been enough research on this, it is believed that crying can help in clearing the bacterial infection of the eyes as tears contain a fluid called lysozyme. A study, conducted in the year 2011, stated that lysozyme has powerful antimicrobial elements which can reduce the risk of bacterial infections such as anthrax.
For more information, read our article on Eye Strain.
Health articles on News18 are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health.
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