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“Please Do Cry…”August 05, 2007
Probably more than once or twice, most of the people in the world have been caught shedding a couple of tears after a sappy movie. Or perhaps they may have stubbed their toe on the side of a table or fell and scraped their knee playing soccer and despite their efforts, sobbed till their eyes were blurred and their faces stained red. Rather than feeling embarrassed, a true science-minded individual would ask: “How and why do humans cry?”
Crying, formally called lacrimation, produces tears, a clear salty liquid excreted from the eyes. These tears are meant to lubricate and protect the eyes. Tears are produced and drained by the lacrimal system. Lacrimal glands, located behind the upper eyelid, are responsible for manufacturing the tears. The lacrimal glands secrete lacrimal fluid which then flows through the lacrimal ducts into the space between the eyeball and lids. As a person blinks their eyes, the lacrimal fluid is spread throughout the surface of the eyes. An overproduction of tears cause the lacrimal fluid to gather in the lacrimal sac. It then flows through the lacrimal canaliculi, located at the inner corner of the eyelids, and into the tear ducts. Through capillary action, the lacrimal fluid moves into the puncta. Tears can then escape the eyes. Excess tears also cause excess tears to then move through the nasolacrimal duct and into the nasal cavity, which is why the nose usually runs as a person cries. Now that it has been reviewed how tears are made, one can then examine the reasons why humans cry.
Humans produce tears for a variety of reasons and because of that, there are three different types of tears. Basal tears protect the eye and keep it moist. The chemical properties of this type of tear allow it to create an adherent that creates a sort of protective film around the eye for its protection. Reflex tears protect the eye by eliminating foreign particles or irritants such as dust or microorganisms from penetrating the eye. Probably the most interesting and perhaps the type that cause the most scientific wonder are emotional tears, which are released from the eye in response to sadness, distress, or physical pain.
Although it may seem less practical than the other types of tears, studies have shown that emotional tears, also known as pyschogenic tears, have their own specific purpose. Emotional tears are a way for human bodies to get rid of a build-up of certain chemicals. Some of these chemicals released in human tears include manganese, an element that affects temperament; leucine-enkephalin, an endorphin believed to modulate pain sensation; ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), a hormone that is considered to be the most reliable indicator of stress; and prolactin, a protein involved in the production of breastmilk in mammals. It is probably due to this fact that women tend to cry more frequently than men because they have 60% more prolactin than men. All these chemicals that are released in emotional tears are the same hormones that are associated with high stress. Releasing these excess chemicals through emotional tears relieves the tension in the body by balancing the body’s stress levels, which is most likely the reason why the crier feels better afterwards.
Besides the physiological reason, crying is also a subconscious way of communicating with each other. Though we may have never thought of such an idea, in a world of differences of language and culture, emotions are the only universal aspect of human life. Proof of that can be seen in babies, who cry long before they can speak to communicate to their parents what they need. Crying is a way of showing others how one feels without having to say a single word.
Until the Industrial Revolution, crying in public for both women and men was not uncommon. But now, in a society that believes that tears indicate a compromise of strength, people are seldom able to reap the benefits of having a good cry. So instead of viewing crying as a sign of weakness, it should be seen as a normal and healthy cleanse that does a body good.
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