6 reasons you should cry more

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And now studies have revealed that those of us who have a little weep when we feel stressed or upset tend to be healthier than those who bottle it up and keep a stiff upper lip.

A recent study from the University of Minnesota, US, found that crying improves the mood of 88.8% of people and it can also help with healing, boosting immunity and reducing levels of anger and stress.

“We feel better after crying because we are literally crying it out,” says ­Professor William Frey, who worked on the study. “Chemicals that build up ­during emotional stress may be removed in our tears when we cry.

“Unalleviated stress can increase risk of heart attack and damage certain ­areas of our brain. The human ability to cry has a survival value.”

It’s also been shown that emotional tears – when we’re unhappy rather than in pain – contain higher levels of ­manganese and potassium.

Manganese is a nutrient that helps with lowering bad cholesterol levels and ­potassium helps control high blood pressure. ­

Emotional tears also ­contain a hormone called prolactin, which helps ­reduce stressful feelings and boosts the immune system.

Women have more prolactin than men and levels rise during ­pregnancy, which may be one reason why women cry more than men – especially when they’re expecting a baby.

When we cry, our breathing also ­deepens, which helps lower stress levels.

-When our bodies feel under attack from a stressful situation, we tend to take short, shallow breaths, which makes the body pump out the stress hormone cortisol and heightens feelings of anxiety.

Deep breathing, on the other hand, reduces cortisol production and lowers stress levels.

“Crying can also be good for us ­psychologically – it helps us take a step back and process what is wrong in our life. Crying is a wake-up call that our relationship, or job, or whatever, is ­causing us to feel upset, isn’t working for us and requires change.”

-Another reason why crying is good, according to Prof Cooper, is that it acts as a signal to others to help us. “If you show emotions with tears, other people will probably comfort us, which helps us to feel ­better,” he explains.

He continues, the worst thing you can do is to stifle a cry because if ­you bury sad or hurtful ­emotions, they won’t vanish – they’ll just fester and come out as anger or ­bitterness, which over time will make you feel a lot worse.