Crying Is Surprisingly Important For Your Overall Well-Being

Unsplash/Amadeo Muslimovic

The majority of people don’t enjoy crying, but there’s no doubt that after a good sob sesh, we feel a hell of a lot better than we did beforehand, right? It’s vital to understand how even the not-so-pretty moments in life impact our health, especially when they’re actually benefitting us. And luckily, letting that emotional river run falls into that category.

But before we tell you all the ways crying actually benefits your body, did you know that we actually have three kinds of tears?! There are basal tears, which are the tears that protect the surface of the eyes at all times. There are reflex tears, which are similar to basal tears, but stem from the eye’s involuntary reaction to irritation, like getting a bug or fleck of dirt in your eye. And finally, there are psychic tears, which are tears inspired by particular emotions in the brain. When you combine these bad boys, we produce 10 ounces of tears every day and an insane 30 gallons each year. So they must be good for something…

Crying cleanses both our minds and bodies.

In a way, tears are similar to the other secretions of the body — sweat, urine, all that good stuff — in that they get rid of unwanted toxins. When we have an emotion-based cry, we are ridding the body of chemicals that are proven to raise our cortisol levels, that pesky stress hormone that leaves us feeling like total crap. One study even found that crying releases a particular endorphin that helps reduce our sensitivity to physical pain.

Unsplash/Sam Burriss

Crying protects us from mean bacteria and microbes.

Yes, tears contain antibodies that fight pathogenic microbes we come in contact with on a daily basis. A 2011 study found that these anti-microbial effects are so powerful that they can even protect against anthrax contamination. Anthrax. 

Crying restores emotional balance.

Believe it or not, a 2008 study found that crying helps people self-soothe and boost their mood better than any antidepressant medication on the market. A whopping 90 percent of participants in the study reported feeling significantly calmer and positive after a good cry. A lot of us have a tendency to hold in our psychic tears, but that means we don’t get to enjoy these mood elevation benefits and, instead, increase our risk of high blood pressure and consistent headaches.

Even though it’s really hard to rewrite those messages in your mind that tell you to feel ashamed or embarrassed when you cry, it’s important to at least attempt it. Because at the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with shedding some tears. If anything, there’s everything right about it.