Health and mood benefits of crying

Crying is a common human action and is triggered by many different emotions. Researchers have found that crying can benefit both your body and mind, starting from birth. Here are the effects to help you answer the question "is it good to cry".

There are 3 different types of tears:
Reflective Tears: Removes smoke and dust from your eyes. Natural Tears: Contains 98% water, which lubricates and helps protect your eyes from infection. Emotional Tears: Contain stress hormones and other toxins, which may provide many health benefits. Researchers think that crying pushes these substances out of your body.

Crying is considered one of the effective mechanisms for self-soothing. Researchers have found that the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is activated when you cry, helping your body to rest and digest. However, this benefit does not appear immediately, but it takes a few minutes to feel the soothing effect after crying.

Crying for a long time releases feel-good chemicals, oxytocin and endogenous opioids (also known as endorphins), which help ease both physical and emotional pain. When endorphins are released, your body can go into a state of silence; while oxytocin can make you feel calm or happy.

In addition to pain relief, crying - especially sobbing, can lift your spirits. When sobbing, you inhale quickly and lots of cool air. Breathing in cooler air can help regulate and lower the temperature of the brain. Compared to the “hot head”, a cool brain is more pleasant for your body and mind. Therefore, your mood will improve after a period of sobbing.
5. Get help If you're feeling sad, crying is a way to let those around you know you need support. From a young age, crying has been a behavior that requires comfort and care from others. In other words, crying will give you support when the situation gets tough.
6. Recovering from Grief Grief is a process, including phases of sadness, dumbfounded, guilt, and anger. Crying is especially important during times of grief, and can even help you cope and accept the loss of a loved one.
Everyone endures pain in different ways. So is crying a lot good? If you find that you cry too much or that crying is starting to interfere with your daily life, see your doctor for a checkup.

You don't just cry when you're sad, sometimes crying also happens when you're extremely happy, scared, or stressed. Researchers believe that this way of crying is to restore emotional equilibrium. When you're extremely happy or scared about something, crying can be your body's way of recovering from such a strong emotion.
8. First cry to help baby breathe The first cry of a baby out of the womb is a very important cry. Because the fetus receives oxygen inside the womb through the umbilical cord, when it is born, the baby must begin to breathe on its own. The first cry helps your baby's lungs adapt to life in the outside world. Crying also helps babies get rid of excess fluid in their lungs, nose, and mouth.
9. Help your baby sleep well Crying also works to help babies sleep better at night. In a small study of infant sleep, babies were allowed to cry as soon as they were laid down in bed, and after a certain number of minutes the parents intervened. The results showed that crying both increased sleep time and decreased the number of times the baby woke up during the night. At follow-up for 1 year, crying did not increase infant stress or negatively impact parent-child relationships.
For adults, the positive mental effects of crying can help you fall asleep more easily.
10. Anti-Bacterial After so many benefits throughout the body, is crying good for the eyes? Crying helps kill bacteria and keep your eyes clean thanks to the lysozyme liquid found in tears. A 2011 study found that lysozyme has such powerful antibacterial properties that it can help reduce the risk from biological agents, such as Anthrax. Reflected tears are also released to remove irritants and protect the eye.

The tear ducts continuously secrete small amounts of natural tears - a protein-rich antibacterial fluid that keeps the eyes moist and prevents the mucous membranes from drying out every time you blink. The lubricating effect of these tears helps people see better. When the eyes are dry, vision can be blurred.
12. Healthy lifestyle The notion that men must not cry has existed for a long time. From a very young age, boys have been told that real men don't cry. As these boys grow up, they may stuff their emotions deep inside and withdraw from loved ones, or deal with their emotions with alcohol or drugs, or even commit suicide. So men need to learn how to reconnect with their buried feelings of grief and loss, and cry freely if needed. Ideally, such education should be given to boys early on, at home or at school, so that they are ready to talk about difficult feelings.
So around the question of whether crying is good, experts have confirmed that crying can be beneficial for you - especially in the right circumstances. So if you feel the need to cry, don't hold back and be afraid to cry. This is a normal and healthy way to express your emotions when you are happy or sad. However, excessive crying can also be a sign of depression. Then you should talk to your doctor.

References: medicalnewstoday.com, health.harvard.edu, webmd.com