Name: Crying Can Make You Feel Better: Crazy Science
Uploaded: 2019-11-12T10:23:05.000Z
Duration: 3 min 32 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

You may have been told there's no use crying over spilt milk.

What if crying is the secret to feeling good?

All tears are produced by the lacrimal glands located above each of your eyeballs.

They continuously supply the tear fluid that's wiped across the surface of your eye each time you blink.

Excess fluid drains through the tear ducts into the nose, which is why you get snotty when you cry.

There are three different kinds of tears.

These happen when something gets in your eye, like dust or onions.

Tears build up to flush the irritant out.

When your eye starts drying out, like if it's very windy, you'll produce these tears to keep the cornea, the surface of the eye, well lubricated.

And number 3: Emotional Tears, or what we call "crying."

These are caused by the limbic portion of the brain, which controls emotion, memory, and arousal.

All tears contain enzymes and proteins, but emotional tears are different.

They also contain hormones, like pain-relieving endorphins, the big daddy of pleasure-causing chemicals.

That's why you can feel so good after a big cry.

And when we're in high-stress situations, crying may help to lower the levels of stress in the body by getting rid of stress hormones.

As well as activating the parasympathetic nervous system,

that's a system that slows your heart rate, helps you rest and feel calmer.

According to researchers at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, watching a sad film could actually improve your mood—but only if you cry.

To test this, I'm holding the first showing of the "Feel Bad Cinema Club," where we'll be watching some tearjerkers.

The Dutch study concluded that, if a participant cried during the film, they were first left feeling depressed,

but 90 minutes later, they reported that they were in a better mood than before they watched the film.

I feel like I should have cried, but also I didn't.

Once I'm over it being sad, like I feel better, I think.

So if you cry, it can leave you calmer and in a better mood than before. But what about when we cry around other people?

Humans are social animals, and tears act as messages between us.

When someone cries, it's easier to tell how they're feeling.

For example, babies cry to let us know something's wrong.

And in adults, tears emphasize how strongly we feel about whatever is making us cry.

Helping someone when they're crying can break down barriers and bond us more closely.

On the other hand, if someone felt embarrassed or alone while crying, they're more likely to say that the tears made them feel worse.

People who had support from friends and family when they cried often say they feel better afterwards.

The same is true when people feel they gained valuable insight from shedding tears.

Crying can be a great healer, stress reliever, and even good for bonding with friends—if you do it right.

So, if you want to have a good cry, don't hold back.