Have you wondered as to why we cry? How can chopping onions, holding your baby for the first time, and losing a parent all evoke the same physical response? And what about tears of mirth?
All of us cry, women more than men. Ladies, you cry an estimated 50 times a year( 30 to 60), that’s almost once a week, while men cry about ten times a year( 6 to 17)! So, all of us cry, and we cry when we are happy, and when we are sad. What triggers our waterworks, what makes us cry?
Why We Cry: Three Kinds of Tears
Yes, there are different kinds of tears. Crying is the shedding of your tears in response to an emotional state, joy or sadness, or even laughter. Its triggers are very different from that of lacrimation, which is the non-emotional shedding of tears, as when you’re chopping onions. . That said, the tearworks that manufacture all kinds of tears are the same, just under varied control.
Basal tears
These are the “housekeeping tears’, they are constantly produced at the rate of 1 to 2microliters a minute. Basal tears are responsible for keeping your cornea lubricated and nourished. They ensure that your eyes don’t feel dry and sore.
Reflexive tears
These are the “emergency tears” that wash out any irritants from your eyes like foreign particles or vapors (remember the dratted onions?), or when you get poked in the eye. They protect the eyes from harm. In fact, some people with dry eyes actually have a reflex watering in response to the dry eyes.
Psychic tears
These are the “why we cry” tears, and are produced in response to George Clooney’s marriage, Croatia losing the world Cup, and when your goldfish dies. And in a myriad other emotional states. We will talk of these for the rest of the article.
Why We Cry: Anatomy of Tears
The lacrimal system consists of two parts. The first part is the lacrimal gland, which is primarily responsible for producing emotional or reflexive tears.
The second part is the drainage apparatus. The eyes continuously produce tears. Some of this fluid evaporates between blinks. The rest is drained via the punctum, a tiny ostium at the nasal edge of both your eyelids. This passes through the nasolacrimal duct into the nose. When we cry, the excess tears that cant be drained through the punctum spill over, and cascade down our cheeks. Also, since the tears are also being drained through your nose, you need to blow your nose once you’ve had a hearty cry.
What Happens When We Cry
When we cry, the heart rate increases, and the breathing slows down. You may begin to sweat, and your nose may get stuffy as explained above. You may feel a lump in your throat. The origin of this lump, called the globus sensation is quite interesting. You may also experience an erratic inhalation, breath holding and muscle tremors.
All of these reactions stem from your sympathetic nervous system, which is triggered by any stress, emotional, or otherwise. The body’s natural response to a threat is to ‘fight or flight’: and this is what shuts down your glottis so you don’t waste time eating instead!
Why We Cry: It Helps
Tears produced during emotional crying are different from other types of tears. They contain greater quantities of the hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotrophic hormone and micronutrients like potassium and manganese. They are also rich in leucine- enkephalin, a natural painkiller. Together, all of these elements help you feel better. Certain scientists believe that tears eliminate stress hormones, making you relax.
Crying may be a response to inflicted pain. It also may be an outlet for intense emotions, be it joy, grief or mirth. In fact, crying may also be a means of communicating our distress to others. Either ways, tears are a great stress buster. It can be a means of nonverbal communication, especially to elicit help from others. For example, babies and children use crying to get food, attention and cuddles. So do some adults, but that is another story.
While on the subject of babies, did you know there are three types of baby cries? They are the basic cry, angry cry and the pain cry. And what is the most surprising bit is that adults, especially primary caregivers, can almost always identify which is which.
Why do we cry: Some more than others
All of us have our own threshold for crying. Some of us find ourselves sobbing and wailing, while others will wipe away a quiet tear. Some of us never cry at all!
And as we discussed earlier, in a broad generalization, women cry more often than men. This could be because Prolactin makes you more susceptible to tears, while testosterone dampens crying.
Another interesting statistic: Men usually tend to cry for a shorter duration. Men cry for between two and four minutes, and women cry for about six minutes. On the other hand, crying morphs into sobbing in 65% women while less than 6% men will sob while crying. Another interesting tidbit: There is no difference in crying between the genders, until adolescence.
In fact, research has shown that women in richer countries such as the US, Sweden, and Chile cry more than their counterparts in poorer countries such as Nepal, Ghana, and Nigeria. This could possibly be because there’s greater freedom of expression in the former.
Disorders Related to Crying
Infantile Colic
Certain babies cry excessively. There is has no obvious cause or underlying medical disorder for this crying, which is often accompanied by breath holding spells. Doctors attribute it to a colicky pain.
Aberrant Regeneration of the Facial Nerve
Often following a paralysis of the facial nerve,an aberrant regeneration can mean one sheds tears while eating. “Crocodile tears” is another name for this condition.
Cri du chat or Cat Cry Syndrome
This is a genetic disorder caused by a defect in 5p chromosome. It affects an estimated 1 in 50,000 live births and is more common in females. In this, the infant typically cries like a kitten, due to problems with the larynx and nervous system.
Familial Dysautonomia
This is a condition in which there is a lack of tears during crying. Alacrimia, or no tears, is the other name for this condition.
Pseudobulbar Affect or emotional incontinence
It is a nervous system disorder. Patients affected by PBA tend to cry or laugh for no reason at all. This crying occurs suddenly, uncontrollably, and often at the inappropriate time.
