“I Hate to Cry” | The Science Behind Tears

I briefly watched the Billboard Music Awards the other night, just in time to hear Celine Dion belt out another incredible song and see her accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. She became tearful when her son came out to present the award and she apologized for being emotional, stating she wanted to be strong for her family. I can appreciate that fact of wanting to help our families through devastating times however; it made me think of the all too familiar statement “I hate crying” that I hear from so many friends, clients, people on TV and people on the street for that matter! The therapist in me (no matter if I have my therapist hat on or not) wants to say “Please! Let those tears go!”

There has been a great deal of research, and some right here at the U of M, which indicates there are different types of tears produced by our bodies. Tears that keep our eyes from drying out, tears produced when we get something in our eye and tears induced by emotions. What has been found is the tears we shed when crying have higher levels of stress hormones in the actual tears! So when we cry we are actually releasing the build up of stress hormone. Does this solve all of our problems? Well no, but it does help us feel less stressed. It has been shown that emotional tears also have more manganese in them, which has a connection to mood regulation.

In case you are not convinced yet, here is one more interesting piece of information. Crying has been shown to activate the parapympathetic nervous system (the part of the involuntary nervous system that slows down heart rate) that helps elevate stress and anxiety. So next time you feel tears coming on, I urge you to let them fly.

Written by Sonja Kromroy, MA, LPC