Why Does Crying Feel Good

Crying is the shedding of tears and is a natural human activity. A neurological connection between the tear duct and the human brain was established during the human evolution. But why does crying feel good? Well, read on to find out the details about this phenomenon.

 

It is a widespread belief that crying makes us feel good, it is even seen as therapeutic at times. It is considered that failure to cry can prove to be dangerous for our physical health. Although there is no specific reason why crying makes us feel better, however, unlike reflex tears (like when one cuts onions, or if someone has allergy) which is made up of 98% water, the emotional tears have a higher concentration of hormones and even proteins.

 

Stress can have too many unfavorable effects on our health. We release stress when we cry, and eventually it makes us feel good. It has a positive effect on mental health as well because crying is the most natural way of coping with pain, stress, and sorrow.

 

The basic scientific conclusion that various researches have drawn is that there are certain chemicals and hormones which gets accumulated during some stressful trauma. What crying does is, it releases these toxins. It also releases endorphins; it is the chemical which makes us happy. Since it releases these stress hormones from our body, we feel better after we cry. According to William H. Frey who is a biochemist at the University of Minnesota, crying gets rid of the stress hormones, particularly adrenocorticotropic hormone, which makes us feel good and better.

 

Slowly, science is also beginning to confirm all these theories. For perhaps the first time, researchers are successfully verifying that crying is actually good for us because it reduces tension and it increases the body's ability to heal. Not only tears, but perspiration, urine and air that we exhale rid the body of various toxins and wastes. According to many studies, people not only feel better after crying, they also look better physically as well.

 

Although crying might not bring back a loved one from the grave or restore a love affair that is finished, yet some biological changes do occur inside the human brain as one cries. It even helps to get through depression and heals the body and mind of emotional pain and hurt.

 

When a person cries, he/ she also experiences high levels of arousal, and when subsequently the arousal levels come down to normal, it makes the person feel a lot better. What this essentially means is that the person might not feel better in literal sense, but he feels better by the contrasting effect because of the distress during crying.