What happens when you cry?

What happens when you laugh?

Everyone of you begins your life crying and goes away bringing tears to many eyes. Actually speaking,  you are the only species that sheds emotional tears. All mammals make distress calls but only you cry. It appears that women tend to cry more than men. Do you know why? Well, women have 60% more Prolactin, which is a reproductive hormone that stimulates the production of milk in women after childbirth, than the average male. Prolactin can stimulate more emotional tears, which explains why women cry more often than men. Women are more emotionally expressive by nature. A comparatively high level of Testosterone in men, can also stop them from crying. Men with reduced Testosterone levels tend to cry more. You are supposed to cry whenever you feel like crying. Suppressing your cry, emotion, frustration or sadness actually heightens it and makes you feel worse. Crying can be helpful in some situations, but remember that it's only a means for you to express your feelings. Nothing more than that and never give over importance to crying. For your baby, crying is some means of communication with you. It’s the way babies capture your attention and express their needs. Common reasons why babies keep crying include lack of sleep, or fatigue, wet or dirty diaper, hunger, overstimulation from noise or activity, Infant acid reflux or food allergies, pain or illness, gas or the presence of a stranger, anxiety or fear. Just have a check. 

What your crying is: Crying is your body's way to not only reduce emotional stress, but also process it. Crying is the biological process in which your eyes produce tears in response to a physical irritation or an emotional outburst. Both happiness and sadness can make you shed some tears. Actually speaking, you do have 3 types of crying. You have Reflex tears when you produce tears either due to some external stimuli like some irritation, dust, or gas or weather disturbance or due to some internal stimuli like emotional outburst or stress or depression. You cry Basal Tears, which are meant to protect your eyes by lubricating the cornea. This is how you get your eyes clear of dust. Basal tears are actually the basic functional tears. This is vital to ensure good visual acuity and comfort. Basal tears also fight against bacterial infection as a part of the immune system. You have Emotional Tears, when your Limbic System, which is the part of your brain, associated with emotional arousal, signals your Pons which is the brain's message station. The signal causes your Lacrimal System to produce tears.

A chemical process: Your emotional tears have a different chemical composition, comparing to other types of tears. Emotional tears contain the hormones like Prolactin, Adrenocorticotropic hormone, and Leu-enkephalin, and the elements Potassium and Manganese. Crying activates the Parasympathetic nervous system and restores the body to a state of balance. When you cry in response to stress, your tears contain a number of stress hormones and other chemicals. When you face the intense circumstances, the Amygdala, the important part in the brain, regulating the emotional processing, transmits a signal to the Hypothalamus which is connected to your Autonomic nervous system, Hypothalamus activates the chemical messenger Acetylcholine, which sends signals to the Lachrymal glands. These small glands, lying  beneath your eyes are stimulated in such a way that they produce tears and people notice that you are crying. 

How you are affected: Actually speaking, your crying is beneficial. Reflex tears clear smoke or dust particles from your eyes. When you cry your eyes are lubricated in such a way that eyes protected from infection. Tears in general contain 98% water, and emotional tears contain stress hormones and other toxins. Emotional crying promotes weight loss by stopping the production of hormones that make your body sore or fat. Crying for some time releases Oxytocin and Endogenous Opioids, otherwise known as Endorphins. These feel-good chemicals ease both of your physical and emotional stresses. The release of Endorphins and Oxytocin can change your mood, taking you to the state of being calm. Crying, actually speaking is your healthy response to sorrow or frustration. It is the natural way to reduce stress that, if left unchecked, can have negative physical effects on you, including the risk of cardiovascular diseases and some other stress-related disorders. Remember that crying is your body's way of soothing you and that it is a completely normal reaction. There is no need for you to suppress your urge to cry simply because of the absurd idea that you are a male. Actually speaking, crying once a week is good for your psychological well-being as it's the natural enhancer of mood and a soothing experience. Your congested emotions are released through crying. Tears contain a fluid called Lysozyme which helps kill the bacteria. Crying makes babies sleep better. Basal tears are released every time when you blink, which help you keep the eyes moist and prevent Mucous Membranes from drying out. The lubricating effect of basal tears helps people see more clearly. When the Membranes dry out, you get a blurred vision. The release of stress hormones like Leu-enkephalin helps regulate the body, taking the body back to a homeostatic level. But crying hard for long is never good as it's likely to cause hyperventilation which can drain the amount of oxygen from the brain, leaving you drowsy. When you cry hard you are likely to have a headache and a runny nose. Crying more is actually a symptom of depression or a neurological disorder. Sometimes, when you cry hard, tears are passed into the nasal cavity and start running out of your nose. Your tear production is likely to be reduced by your poor health but your body never runs out of tears. Tears help you maintain your eye health, keep you away from dry eye disease and protect you from the potential infection risks. When you cry the tears of joy, it helps you have the emotional equilibrium. You are always the creator of your reality and you can definitely control your biochemistry including the way, you cry...