Good News! Happy Tears Serve a Purpose

Crying can be a hassle and at times confusing, most of the time it's not a pleasant experience. Culturally and socially it's been seen as a sign of weakness and overall, a negative thing. However, crying can actually be good for you. It is good for you. It doesn't mean that you're overly sensitive, just that you're overwhelmed by an extreme emotion whether it be happiness, sadness, anger or frustration.

It's actually like the emotional equivalent of sweating when you're too hot. You cry when you’re emotionally overwhelmed. And similar to the purpose of sweating when you're too hot i.e. to cool down, crying has a calming effect. It serves the purpose of providing a catharsis, in turn, promoting emotional regulation. The act of crying also releases feel-good hormones in the brain like endorphins and oxytocin similar to when you are being hugged, which also boosts emotional regulation.

Tears also promote social bonding and communication when one is too overwhelmed to communicate through words. Crying helps signify the importance of certain life events such as weddings or graduation.

At the end of the day tears are good for you, crying is good for you. If you feel like you need a good cry go cry it out! Put on some sad music or watch a sappy movie you’ll feel better after. You feel less stressed, less angry or more happy! Crazy! I know. Keeping it in won’t help, it will hurt actually, so why not?

Can you think of a time when you needed that crying session and so you did and it helped? Or when you watched a movie/show that resulted in a happy cry?

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#Crying #Emotions #EmotionalRegulation