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The Purpose Of Crying

attempt4

Bluelighter
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Oct 21, 2010
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What is the physiological purpose of tears?

I just thought about this after reading a post by TINK which got me thinking...

Why do we cry? What function does the removal of liquid from the eye's tear ducts serve?

Cheers
 
just read:

When emotions affect us, the nervous system stimulates the cranial nerve, in the brain and this sends signals to the neurotransmitters to the tear glands. Thus, we cry .The largest tear gland, the lacrimal gland produces the tears of emotion and reflex. Many believe that the body, in times of emotional stress, depends on this gland to release excess amounts of chemicals and hormones, returning it to a stable state.
 
Yeah cool, cheers. But I still wonder, between the "emotions affecting us" and "signals causing us to cry"....what purpose the release of bodily fluid from tear glands serves. I see that it reads "many believe" that we release excessive chemicals and hormones in times of stress, but I just wondered about solid evidence as to why this happens and what it does for us.
 
I don't know why we cry but I do know that whenever I have cried and for whatever reason it was that somehow it does make me feel better. Don't know why but it does work
 
Yeah absolutely, its very relaxing after a good cry. My whole body and face feels like it is buzzing after I cry and I feel really sedate.

I haven't cried in years and I feel pretty shit about that (not shit enough to cry unfortunately). Like I feel like I am stuffed up with potential tears as I've been through a lot in recent years .... I reckon I could do with a good cry, and it wouldn't surprise me if it all came out during my next mushroom trip!

But yeah, it's a really strange thing is crying. Wailing as your eyes excrete liquid and your nose runs. It's a really strange emotion and action!

Man I wanna cry now! Damn!
 
I haven't cried in years and I feel pretty shit about that (not shit enough to cry unfortunately). Like I feel like I am stuffed up with potential tears as I've been through a lot in recent years

Weird... I get "choked up" or teary eyed kind of regularly. Maybe a couple of times a month at least.

When I hear about people dying, or see footage of people in a state of distress after their loved one has died. A relative of mine died a little while ago, so I think I'm empathising with the situation. Seeing footage of people in this state reminds me of the way I felt.

Sometimes it happens when I get a wave of nostalgia over me. Like when I hear a song that reminds me of partying with my friends a few years ago. Because I feel like I'm getting older and remembering those times just makes me feel really sentimental.
 
Weird... I get "choked up" or teary eyed kind of regularly. Maybe a couple of times a month at least.

When I hear about people dying, or see footage of people in a state of distress after their loved one has died. A relative of mine died a little while ago, so I think I'm empathising with the situation. Seeing footage of people in this state reminds me of the way I felt.

Sometimes it happens when I get a wave of nostalgia over me. Like when I hear a song that reminds me of partying with my friends a few years ago. Because I feel like I'm getting older and remembering those times just makes me feel really sentimental.

Thats funny man, I get the nostalgia thing big time. If I listen to a song we used to listen to when it was jst my close group of friends loved up on MDMA or whatever, then to be honest, I have to switch it off because the melancholic nostalgia is just too much. It's such an intense feeling....it's like i'm buzzing again, but I just can't handle it. I was always super-sensitive to MDMA anyway, but bloody hell!

I really wish I could cry, man. I cried when my dad was abusive, but that was 10 years ago now. I then suppressed all emotion subsequently (which amounted to a healthy affliction of depression and anxiety.) and it seems I have fucked my ability to let go. I did actually cry after a massive MDMA, Meph, salvia and nitrous and vodka and acid binge over 4 days when I started coming down as the love of my life fucked me over, but thats the first time in years, which was 2 years ago.

Im sorry to hear about your relative man, truly sorry. If you need to talk, feel free to PM me again :) But one thing is for sure, you should rejoice in the fact that you can be open enough to cry and have the ability to be at one with your emotions, so much so that you can release when need be.
 
It's a release of stress similar to laughing, intended to balance the body. If you notice, the texture of sad tears is different than happy tears, etc, and this is due to the different chemical composition of the material the body is releasing. There are also different kinds of laughs, etc; in the case of both laughs and tears, the body can release different emotions with slightly different variations of the same action.
 
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