Friday, 29 October 2021
Our tears act as a release, crying is our bodies way of getting rid of toxins, stress, tension, depression, and grief.
Our body produces 3 types of tears
Each type of tear has a unique, healing role.
- Reflex tears. These are your eyewash tears. They come gushing out of glands under the eyebrows when you peel onions or get dust in your eye. They flush out irritants to keep your eyes clean.
- Continuous tears. These are your basic tears. The eyes roll around in them all day. They contain oil, mucus, water, and salt, and help to fight infections.
- Emotional tears. These tears gush in response to strong emotions like sadness, grief, joy, or anger. They all contain the same chemical makeup, but more stress hormones and natural painkillers than other kinds of tears.
Emotional tears have healing powers for our bodies. They de-stress us. They calm us. They relax us. Emotional tears shed chemicals and toxins that accumulate when we’re stressed. Additionally, they produce endorphins, our body’s natural feel-good hormones. No matter how you feel about crying, the fact remains: It’s completely normal.
When feelings get so extreme you don’t know how to manage or cope with them, crying can be one way to express them and get relief. Emotional tears contain more stress hormones and natural painkillers than other types of tears. They serve a therapeutic role, also known as “a good cry.”. Emotional crying, which tends to make you feel better, is a part of the healing process.
If you feel hesitant about crying around others, remember: Crying doesn’t indicate weakness. Since tears can actually help people realise, you’re experience pain and distress, you might benefit more from letting them fall than holding them back.
Just watch out for excessive, uncontrollable tearfulness and crying, since these can be normal grief or sometimes suggest depression. If you find yourself crying more than usual, especially for what seems like no reason at all, it may help to talk to a therapist – or see our Grief Support page for more.
