Why do people cry?
-- asks David from Internetland
Emily V. Driscoll • October 23, 2006
![[CREDIT: Jillian Balfour]](https://scienceline.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/cry.jpg)
[CREDIT: Jillian Balfour]
You’re watching the final scene in Thelma and Louise, and you’re on your third handkerchief. You turn your tear stained face to the side and look through blurred, saline-flooded vision at your cat, who is staring back at you witnessing the curious spectacle. Why is it that humans can be reduced to blubbering messes, while other members of the animal kingdom don’t seem to let out even a sniffle?
We have tear ducts to lubricate and protect our eyes from dust and other particles. The ducts are under the upper eyelids and produce a salty liquid—a tear-–-that gets spread throughout the eye after each blink. Animals too have the ability to produce tears, but not necessarily for the same reasons that we humans produce them.
Three types of tears are generated by the human eye. Basal tears protect the eye and keep it moist. Reflex tears flush out the eye when it becomes irritated. And emotional tears flow in response to sadness, distress, or physical pain.
Studies have shown that emotional tears contain more manganese, an element that affects temperament, and more prolactin, a hormone that regulates milk production. Sobbing out manganese and prolactin is thought to relieve tension by balancing the body’s stress levels and eliminating build ups of the chemicals, making the crier feel better.
But this minor physiological benefit aside, the most likely reason we produce emotional tears is because it’s a means of communication. Before babies can speak, they can cry. The only way for infants to express frustration, pain, fear, or need is to cry. Adults may use crying to bond with other humans. Expressing sadness can prompt comfort and support from peers. Different languages can provide barriers to spoken communication, but emotions are universal. There are also culturally acceptable reasons for crying that bring people together, such as at funerals or weddings.
Though there is a significant debate over whether animals have emotions and can express them, some animals do appear to cry for emotional reasons. Elephants seem to grieve when a family member dies and will guard the body and travel long distances to view it. Elephant experts at the London Zoo once told Charles Darwin that the animals do indeed mourn. Chimpanzees also appear to cry, but some scientists still insist that the tears released by these animals are strictly for cleaning the eye.
Whether or not animals shed tears for emotional reasons has yet to be scientifically proven. Humans, however, can and do dissolve into tears for any number of reasons. Cleansing the eye, relieving stress, conveying pain, communication, and societal assimilation can all lead to an empty tissue box. So weeping after that sappy movie might not mean that you are a total wuss after all. In fact, it may mean that you are behaving like a perfectly normal human being.
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168 Comments
This was a very interesting and insightful article. Very well written. It was educational as well as entertaining. I will be certain to forward this to my friends and colleagues.
Interesting article!
Excellent article. it answers many of the questions I’ve always had. Thank you.
Very insightful. I always thought I felt better after a “good cry” and now I know why!
Great article! Very interesting! I want to see more from this writer!
Very insightful and enjoyable read….are there other places this author can be found?
i like this.
This article brought tears to my eyes… tears of joy that is… because it is so true. Bravo, more from this talented author is a must.
The article is good, but one also may cry because of extreme joy or excitement! I do believe that crying has to have a rational basis (but many therapists disagree with that).
Crying is a response to a trigger and becomes irrational without it, just like laughter and anger are …
A lot of women (and some men) nowadays tend to cry for no visible reason, and when asked why they cry they will often say things like: “I dunno, I cry because it makes me feel better” and when you ask: “feel better about what?” they will respond with: “I don’t know”. It appears to me that many women, and some men have lost their senses and cry for cying sake … what a bunch of cry babies …. don’t cry now you hear lol
OKay, but wait, I dont get one thing now adays. Some people that I know are not simply cry babies but, they cry for a little reason and can seem to stop crying, its like their drowning in depression. And they feel guilty for OTHER peoples problems.
xcellent.. I got a very convincing answer.
Okay, the author covered that you cry for joyful reasons too (ref.There are also culturally acceptable reasons for crying that bring people together, such as at funerals or WEDDINGS.)As for not knowing the reason why some women and men cry is from build up of emotions that they didn’t release over years, and like the author said, stress. I’d say the majority of people don’t like to cry infront of people so when they’re around people and they want to cry and they don’t it builds up and keeps building up until they breakdown. Quote: “breaking down to tears”. This article made me feel like it’s okay to cry, it gave me the reason why I cry and why i feel better after crying. Thank you so much for this article.
Amanda
I’m doing a science project and found this article. Thanks, it really helped me out! I got a bit of really interesting information. I hope it makes my presentation really great! Now I understand that crying actually has a reason. :*-D
Aubrey
i was actually searching what makes people upset and make them shed tears, and i found this article, interesting one, well done, and simple and the best one… cleared too many doubts i had..
What does it mean if you feel like crying and possibly want to cry, but the tears don’t come out?
as for the question above, i think it has to do with the level of emotions. if you feel like crying, but the emotions aren’t strong enough, i think they don’t come out. that’s just my personal opinion.
as for the article, its fantastic. i have always wondered why people cry and now i have the answer.
thank you =]
From my perspective it was great reading about the different types of tears. it was therefore beneficial to me and may be of interest to others that may come about this article.once again, well done.it is there also that people do read these articles
Ur article rocks…..Its a wonderful piece written and balanced perfectly….Thanks
you absolute loosers.
I had read a few years ago that tears were analyzed for their chemical components and it was discovered that chemeicals related to stress and other negative states of wellbeing were found to be shed in the tear, so the tear was actually part of a cleansing process, which I have no problem believing just knowing what I feel when I cry.
There was a time when I stopped crying for a few years, and believe me, not only was I in a horrible state of mind, but my body felt badly too, kind of achey and yet there seemed to be some kind of disconnectedness. It was bad. Later, when I had healed a bit from my emotional trauma, I could cry again and the acheyness stopped and I felt all around better.
I have no doubt that tears are used for communication purposes, but that doesn’t tell us what is going on when a person is crying alone or secretively. No, I believe tears are much more than what this article says they are – it’s too bad that the authors don’t leave the door open to other meanings and interpretations.
I’m a perfectly healthy being I cry all the time, THIS ARTICLE IS SO GOOD I COULD CRY.
ok well it covered the reason why people cry but it did not cover why people cry for no reason or very little reason. People who cry for no reason or very little reason have a emotional disorder and should talk to their doctor, they could have a severe hormonal inbalance. So anyone that knows some one who crys all the time for no reason or very little reason should tell them to go see their doctor and figure things out.
huh
Amber is very rude i luv u aubery we both are on the same page
The article tells us why we cry, but not how we cry, i.e, what the Brain does in reaction of aan action of emotion or sadness. I wanted to know this. I know why i cry, im sad or other, but why do we cry.
Exsample:
Itching is coursed by irritation from fibres and creats a sence if pain to the brain, which in turn makes the itch feel to you.
So i ask again, why do we cry ?
I too would like to know ‘why’- what turns the ‘for no or little reason’ tears on? Amanda says it is an emotional problem – maybe there is a check list for possible ‘disorders’, besides depression. Maybe some insight would be helpful in controlling the ‘no or little reason’ tears – which can be embarassing..
i find that things can trigger tears in me when I dont want to cry or feel like crying. The memory of something that was stressful years ago can trigger tears but i really dont want to cry. Sometimes at work, I find that if we have to discuss something, it makes me tearful. Intellectually I don’t particularly care, but it’s like some people may sweat in certain circumstances, but I cry. It’s really embarrassing as I don’t want to cry. It puts people off meetings with me as they are frightened i will cry. Why does this happen? what can i do to control it? can i change my diet, would that help?
I thought this article was very interesting, and it helped with my french project very much!
Thanks!
I’m trying to find out why my breathing rate is interrupted when I cry, or becomes sort of a pulse of sorts when exhaling — or inhaling for that matter (if that makes sense — somewhat like laughing), and things like that. I wonder if perhaps that’s left over from babyhood when noisy crying may be needed to get somebody’s attention. Or maybe it’s an inadvertent effort to avoid crying. I don’t know, just hoping to find out one day.
nice article.. i havent cried in 3 years!
Greetings From Australia
boring
phew! im 12, and for some reason i cry when i feel very little pain, even if it doesn’t hurt me that much. it’s one of my darkest secrets, and personally i HATE it! at least i know im not a wuss i guess
when i am sad, i cry and it relaxes me,but when i cry for a long time while feeling sad, it doesnt relaxes but gives a pain to my eyes and the pain remains unless i sleep again (seems sleep rejuvenates my eyes :))and why does it happen that sometime we also make noises or even scream while crying? a lot of people do this, i wonder why? and again, sometimes it happens that we feel pain and we want to cry, cry a lot, but the tears dont come. Why does it happen? where do the tears go then?
My Dad is 78. He cried a few times when I was a kid but was and alpha male personality. He crys over bad and joyful memories at anytime or anywhere. He stops crying when you focus your attention on him. Is he lonely and crying to get attention? He is vocal. When I cry it is in private and quite and I always feel ten times better. Back to my Dad I have noticed that he laughs at the wrong time and he only thinks of himself. He never asks about anyone else and always thinks of himself and is trying to sort through things before, mostly.
this article was excellent!!! i am 12 and i just wanted to know why people cry. this website link surely did the job of giving excellent information and facts!!
yep … i like the article especially the last sentence.very relieving. but i need to know why ppl cry when they r happy. anyway keep up the good job. though irrelevent here i my dog cry at night. he behaves like human. makes us believe its a human. he go where our sound is. cry at night. takes any amount of food. not much of barking,friendly with the strangers. all look strange.by the way thanks for the good work
plz elaborate more about ppl who use tears to convince others and get attention
I’ve always been curious about tears…one thing I’ve always wondered about…why do some people’s eyebrows slant with the inner tips rising upward at the bridge of their nose toward the middle of their forehead when they cry while others’ brows do not? It’s an interesting phenominon I’ve seen and have always wondered about. Anyone know by chance or can anyone point me to a site that answers this eyebrow phenominon?
it sucked and I have never cried in my life. It’s all a load of balls and I never wantto see it again!
Charlotte T? You Suck ! I Am Crying Whilst Reading This !
wel i totally disagree
i think you are a complete and utter WUSS
you should get a grip or reality
this site, as i said, is a load of balls
crap
coddlewomp
and everything else shitty
you should just get back into your hole
and suck on cheese
love from Charlotte Thorpe
wel i totally disagree
i think you are a complete and utter WUSS
you should get a grip or reality
this site, as i said, is a load of balls
crap
coddlewomp
and everything else shitty
you should just get back into your hole
and suck on cheese
love from Charlotte Thorpe x
This is an abomination
ABOMINATION
ABOMINATIONNN!!!!
abomination my arse
its diabolical
despicable
unbelievable
just get lost the lot of u
im through with this
I don’t think it really answers the question. We all know the literal reason why people cry, cause of there emotions but whyDoes your body react by, Flooding your face w/ blood (turniing it red) and causing tears, typically used for more practical things like cleaning the eyes, to come in large amounts.
hallo,
hier in deutchland es ist fantastisch
ich bin sehr gross
mein dick freunde ist wunderbar im das schlafzimmer
danke und gut nacht :)
bonjour
je m’appelle greg
j’adore la website
c’est tres tres bien
le people a francais are tres bien a la chambre, a le amoir.
merci
an interesting article.why do some people roll down tears when they vomit?
hmmmmm.
that was terrible french.
and completely irrelevant.
crying is badass.
Thank you Emily Driscoll! In response to some of the comments.. I don’t think there is such thing as crying for no reason. Even if we can’t put a finger on why we are crying, it’s only because the subconscience is keeping this information from us, and this creates imbalance and stress, and requires a lot of energy. Kind of off-topic, but if you don’t know the reason you’re crying, start writing stream-of-consciousness and reread what you’ve written out loud. I’ve found the real reason behind my emotional tears so many times by doing this.