6 Reasons Why Crying Could Be Beneficial to You

Crying might not be our favorite pastime, but if we just let it out from time to time, we can actually get more benefits from it than we would by just holding it in. By shedding a few tears, we won’t be showing our weaker side — we are actually helping our eyes and the rest of our body in many different ways. In fact, in some situations, it can even help us fall asleep faster.

We at Bright Side try to look at things optimistically, and this helped us to find a handful of good things that come with crying.

1. It can improve your vision.

When we haven’t had a chance to drink enough water during a busy day, we usually feel thirsty and maybe a bit dehydrated. Well, our eyes aren’t any different since they also need to stay hydrated and get water. So, when we cry, we’re actually helping our eyes re-hydrate and this might increase our focus and improve vision.

In addition, every single day, we’re exposed to a lot of dust, dirt, and debris, all of which can easily irritate our eyes. In fact, it can potentially do harm and even make our vision worse. Crying will help cleanse them and remove any irritants, but the best part is that tears contain lysozyme. This is an anti-bacterial chemical that helps the eyes fight infection.

2. Crying can clean your nose.

Our tear ducts are connected with the inside of our nose. This is why our noses get runny when we cry. But this is what we benefit from. It flushes out irritants and bacteria from our noses, just like it does with our eyes.

3. It helps babies breathe and sleep.

The very first cry that a baby has after it’s born is what helps clear out any extra fluid in the mouth, nose, and lungs. It also helps the lungs adapt to the new world.

Crying also helps babies to fall asleep better at night. In a study where babies were put to bed with controlled crying, it was discovered that crying increased the sleep length and actually reduced the number of times they woke up during the night. In fact, even a year later, crying doesn’t affect the stress levels in infants or impact the parent-child bond negatively.

4. It can help you recover, emotionally.

Crying doesn’t only happen when we feel sad. Some people even cry when they’re stressed, scared, or very happy. Researchers believe that crying in these different ways can help us restore our emotional balance. When we cry from being extremely scared or happy, it’s a way for the body to recover from having a strong emotion.

Emotional tears are ones that have more health benefits. While more research needs to be conducted to confirm this, it’s believed that they contain stress hormones and other toxins. It’s theorized that crying flushes these things out of our bodies.

5. It might help you fall asleep faster.

We tend to feel generally better after having a good cry, and there’s a reason for that. Because crying rids our body of hormones and toxins, it lowers stress levels. This helps us develop a stronger immune system and lowers the chances of gaining weight.

Also, because we will feel less stressed, our blood pressure can also decrease and help us fall asleep faster.

6. Crying can help you relieve pain.

Aside from crying being self-soothing, emotional tears help to release endorphins and oxytocin. These are the same chemicals that make people feel good, which can help one endure emotional and physical pain. That’s why shedding a few tears can actually promote well-being and reduce pain.

How often do you cry? What makes you cry the most? How do you feel after a good cry?

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