Crying

The topic of crying came up in my room and I felt this subject deserved a little research. I know that crying is healthy and not crying is... unhealthy, but I am curious to find out why that is or, at least, why I believe that. Here are some fun facts I found on the subject.

According to Maria Popova in her article concerning research conducted by Robert R. Provine, crying is a "uniquely human capacity," meaning that, as far as we know, humans are the only creature on earth who are capable of engaging in or committing this act of "crying." Emotional tearing, according to Provine, is a uniquely human evolutionary innovation.

Professor Frey, the author of Crying: the Mystery of Tears, supports Provine stating "...that crying has survived evolutionary pressures. Humans are the only animals to evolve this ability to shed tears in response to emotional stress, and it is likely that crying survived the pressures of natural selection because it has some survival value... It is one of the things that makes us human.''


If that alone doesn't communicate the importance and profoundness of crying, Dr Carrie Lane states that emotional tears [tears produced as emotional reactions as opposed to tears produced as reactions to eye irritants] have a chemical component that could explain their production and expulsion from the body. "Emotional tears contain higher concentrations of proteins, manganese, and the hormone prolactin which is produced during stress-induced danger or arousal." [Prolactin also aids women's bodies in the production of breast milk, go figure] This means that when we are feeling threatened either physically or emotionally, our bodies produce prolactin. When we cry after these painful encounters, it literally relieves the body of stress along with its associated chemicals, like prolactin [and yes, studies show pregnant women cry more frequently]. I'm curious to know if people who cry less frequently than "normal" have access levels of prolactin built up in their system or if possibly they cry less because their body produces less of this reactionary hormone....

Adrenocorticotrophic (ACTH) is a chemical that triggers cortisol or "the stress hormone." Cortisol is harmful to our bodies and studies show that too much of it leads to a whole slew stress related physical problems... The interesting thing about ACTH is that it is found in heightened quantities in, you guessed it, emotional tears. This is just another chemical that leaves our bodies when we cry. Relieving the body of cortisol reduces the risk of these stress related ailments later in life. Cry it out, seriously, cry that shit out.

On average, women cry 47 times a year while men cry only 7 times a year. Since crying has been linked to certain hormones (like prolactin), we can assume that the increase of these hormones in women accounts for their more frequent crying. 

Studies show that some 88% of people who cry report mood improvement following this behavior while only about 8% report feeling worse.

Provine states that laughing and crying are complimentary behaviors, physiologically speaking, and that both behaviors tend to continue once started. It is easier to not laugh than it is to stop laughing and similarly, to force one's self to avoid crying than it is to stop once crying has started. 

Also, crying and laughing both are not started voluntarily, one does not think "I am going to cry now" and begins crying. Both behaviors are brought on in response to something, be it tickling or a punch in the nose. Both of these human behaviors can be suppressed or stifled voluntarily, but cannot usually be started voluntarily.

Since it is possible to keep yourself from crying, what happens in the body when you control this behavior? Is it harmful to always hold back tears? Hanna Furness reports on a study done with infants 4-10 months old. These lil babies were undergoing "sleep training" or, were left alone to cry themselves to sleep. This method of getting a baby to sleep has been a traditionally popular one as it begins to show improvement in the sleep cycle and seems to "train" an infant how to deal with the stress of being put to bed, however, in her research published by the Journal of Early Human Development, Windy Middlemiss found that although by the third night of sleep training, babies cried for a shorter amount of time, they still had elevated levels of cortisol in their saliva. They were able to stifle their behavioral response to stress (crying) but didn't show signs of actually "dealing" with their stress. The babies should have been crying and weren't and this showed a dissociation between their psychological and behavioral responses to stress. Just because they were no longer crying didn't mean they were no longer under duress.

Obviously, in our culture, loud vocal and dramatic crying is never acceptable or appropriate in public because it portrays our inability, as adults, to control our emotions and inhibitions but the fact that we must suppress it at all speaks to its naturalness and necessity for emotional health. If forcing yourself to not cry can leave you with a heightened load of cortisol, a potentially harmful chemical, why are we taught to do it so often?

One evolutionary theory on why we cry has little to do with the actual chemical consequences in our own bodies but explains crying by the behavior it inspires in those around it. Crying has been shown to cause those individuals around the cry-er to spring into action and figure out ways to defend or protect the person crying. It causes a defensive atmosphere and to our early ancestors, may have proved to provide action that would ward off danger. Crying has also shown to reduce aggression in those who witness it. By reducing aggression, crying could potentially cause conflicts to be dealt with in a more peaceful manner, rather than clubbing one another over the head. In interpersonal relationships confrontations are bound to occur and evolutionary speaking, aggressively handling these conflicts are not always beneficial. Crying could be one of the ways that these situations are emotionally diffused and can allow those involved to solve the conflict differently or learn to avoid it all together.

This theory could also serve to explain the reason why we are taught, for the most part, to not cry in front of others but to do it in solitude. Crying is a powerful tool to gain the attention of those around you and could be used to manipulate rather than to cooperate. Crying is unacceptable in public situations but I do not think it should be expelled completely from more private interpersonal settings. Being comforted while crying can actually strengthen the relationship and emotional intimacy between people not to mention the benefits resulting from comfort provided to the person experiencing emotional stress.

I would argue that crying alone also has its benefits. I find that when I cry alone I am forced to evaluate not only myself, but the situation that provoked the crying. I get to know myself a little more on an emotional level and evaluating this helps me to understand what makes me experience emotional pain, and why. The why is what scientists cannot explain. There is no cookie cutter explanation for the vastness of human emotion but understanding the emotions that exist in yourself can lead you to sympathize with the emotions of others. It is hard to solve things for those around us and to empathize with our sad friends when we ourselves have never taken the time to see why it is that we feel and why we, as individuals and not products of evolution, cry.

Crying is one of the things that makes us human and to search out the reasons for it in ourselves will undoubtedly aid us in creating and maintaining fuller, more emotionally informed relationships with those around us.

The google!

Popova, Provine
sleep training, Furness, Middlemiss
Dobson, some fun stats
types of crying, associate chemicals

cute pictures provided by google images, search: crying