We cry when we are sad, depressed, angry, or even happy.
But did you know that humans are the only species known to shed tears for emotional reasons?
Although many animals cry loudly as babies to indicate distress, they do not appear to have the brain wiring to trigger tears in response to complex emotions.
Although scientists understand the function of tears, it is still not fully understood why people cry and what emotional tears do.
WHAT ARE TEARS?
Table of Contents
Researcher Dr. at the Institute of Human Biology in Switzerland. “Tears consist of five components: mucus, electrolytes, water, proteins and lipids,” says Marie Bannier-Hélaouët.
Speaking to the BBC World Service program CrowdScience, the researcher states that they all have different features.
For example, proteins are antiviral and antibacterial, and electrolytes are minerals necessary for body functions.
And there are three types of tears.
“Basal tears are tears that are always present on the surface of the eye. They keep the eye lubricated,” explains Dr. Marie Bannier-Hélaouët.
Reflex tears are secreted when an irritating foreign substance, such as an insect or dust, enters the eye.
This is detected by nerve cells in the cornea, the clear, dome-shaped outer layer of the eye that acts as a protective barrier against germs and debris.
Chorena has the highest nerve cell density in the entire body.
According to Bannier-Hélaouët, these can detect temperature, physical load and dryness.
Messages from nerve cells go to the brain area called the lacrimal nucleus, which controls tears, and from there, signals are sent to the tear glands to increase tear production.
EMOTIONAL TEARS
The third type of tears, emotional tears, is where things get more complicated.
Emotional processing areas of the brain also communicate with the lacrimal nucleus, but through more complex pathways than a simple protective reflex.
According to Ad Vingerhoets, professor emeritus of clinical psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, crying often reflects emotional overload rather than a single emotion.
“Emotions rarely arise in a pure form. Most often it is a mixture or rapid change of different emotions,” he says.
He also explains that as we get older, the way we cry for emotional reasons also changes.
Physical pain is a major trigger for children, but may be less of a trigger for adults and older adults.
As we get older, crying becomes increasingly linked to empathy. “We cry not only for our own pain, but also for the pain and suffering of others.”
Positive emotions can also cause tears, Vingerhoets says, while the beauty of art or nature can be a trigger for some people.
WHAT IS THE USE OF CRYING?
Many people say they feel relieved after crying, but there is scientific debate about whether this effect is real.
Lauren Bylsma, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the USA, is trying to understand whether crying makes us feel better by using heart rate sensors.
Electrocardiograms (ECG) record heart rhythm and rate; This can give us an insight into how our nervous system works.
Their preliminary results suggest that just before we start crying, activity in our sympathetic nervous system, which governs our “fight or flight” response, may peak.
“We also see an increase in parasympathetic activity immediately after crying begins.” This is the branch of the nervous system that helps us calm and relax.
But Vingerhoets points out that crying doesn’t always make us feel better, especially if we’re experiencing depression or burnout.
It also depends on what makes us cry.
“We generally report that our mood improves when we cry in controllable situations, but that there is no such effect when we do not cry in uncontrollable situations,” he says.
The people around us can also make a difference.
“If they are understanding and offer you support and comfort, then you will feel better. But if they start making fun of you or get angry or embarrassed, then there will be no relief,” she explains.
In fact, there is some evidence that crying may affect how others behave toward us.
A laboratory study conducted in Israel found that men who smelled women’s emotional tears were less aggressive than men who smelled a saline solution.
Researchers agree that tears serve as a social signal that we need help and increase other people’s willingness to provide support.
Some studies suggest that emotional tears may make us seem more trustworthy, which may have helped our ancestors cooperate and support each other.
In the case of crying babies, there is evidence that a baby’s cry can activate a network of brain regions that initiate a caregiving response in adults.
Vingerhoets believes that tears in humans may have evolved evolutionarily because we had a long childhood during which we were dependent on our parents.
Because vocal crying “is so annoying and can make us aggressive,” there’s an idea that a baby’s tears might help reduce aggression in adults, he says.
“This may be a form of self-protection for the baby,” he says.
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE CRY MORE?
According to Bylsma, men cry on average zero to once a month, while women cry four to five times.
This may be a learned behavior, but according to the psychologist, its occurrence in different cultures shows that this is only part of the truth.
“Women in general tend to be more emotionally reactive or more expressive of their emotions, and I think crying is just a manifestation of that difference,” she says.
“There may be neurological differences, hormonal differences, personality differences.”
Bylsma says there’s currently no strong evidence that hormone changes throughout the menstrual cycle affect how much we cry, but she thinks hormones may play a role due to differences between genders and conditions such as pregnancy and aging.
He also studied the influence of personality traits and found that crying was specifically linked to being anxious or extroverted.
“Anxiety is associated with depression and anxiety, which may be why we see this link,” he says.
“We also found that people with higher levels of empathy are more likely to cry, possibly because they cry in response when they see other people facing difficulties,” he adds.
Ultimately, crying appears to be related to social bonding
As Vingerhoets puts it, “Crying is a kind of [güçlü duyguları ifade eden] It seems to work like an exclamation point. It might make you realize: ‘Looks like this is a big deal.’
