Tears That Heal Wounds

Tears have an important biological function: they clean our eyes. They allow us to have a clearer vision and are responsible for oxygenating our cornea. Additionally, they operate as a natural lubricant and have antibacterial compounds that protect us from infections.

Tears also function as indicators of wounds in our body. They activate mechanisms so that cells specialized in defense and healing processes go to this area to repair it: this means that they are directly related to our immune system.

But tears are not just a physiological action. In fact, most of us see them as an expression of emotional content. You cry for a great sadness, for a gigantic fear or for the greatest happiness. You cry, because you feel.

Tears sometimes attenuate the rain

Crying is a subjective manifestation that has, on the one hand, a communicative function : that of expressing to others how we feel, trying to awaken in them a feeling of solidarity. On the other hand, tears have a therapeutic objective because they relieve the tensions accumulated in the day to day.

Crying is an emotional process that can have different origins. The act of crying outweighs our need for control and, therefore, sometimes as much as we want to avoid it, we end up crying. Crying indicates lack of control, but at the same time breaks a barrier of expression.

This happens because in our brain there are two differentiated areas: a prefrontal area, in charge of executive tasks such as reasoning, decision-making and where the will is located, and another area whose function is to activate reflex actions, which are therefore automatic. and involuntary. Emotions originate in this last area, which in turn is the most primitive area of ​​our brain.

What Scientists Say About Crying

We can cry as a result of chopping an onion, which simply confirms the normal state of our sense of smell associated with our tear glands. You can also cry in particular cases, in which the causes are due to diseases. This type of condition is known as “pathological crying.”

Research carried out by various scientists reveals that when crying substances such as endorphins, adenocorticotropin, prolactin and manganese and potassium salts are released, responsible for the high levels of anxiety and excitement in our body. Then we experience a state of relaxation and peace. In a complementary way, crying tears act as an analgesic that reduces pain.

Crying is triggered by high intensity negative moods such as tension, anger or anguish, but also by very strong positive emotions, such as intense joy. In any case, what is experienced is a feeling that the fact is very great in front of us.

Is it good to suppress crying?

Suppressing crying is harmful to health. In most cultures it is not well received to see men cry, since this act is assumed as a weakness. As a result, especially men tend to suppress their emotions, as opposed to women who are associated with easy crying.

The origin of this perception is due to wrong models of education with macho “criteria”. Holding back tears increases frustration, aggression, and causes blockages.

Faced with the loss, of a loved one for example, a deep sadness ensues: a grieving process in which the best help is to cry. This is part of life. When it is not processed and it is repressed, it results in the appearance of diseases, since a process of somatization takes place due to the repression of emotional pain. Thus,  crying is healthy when it is proportional to the reason that triggers it.

On the contrary, crying is unhealthy when the causes that generate it are unknown and it is accompanied by lack of sleep or appetite, weight loss, being unmotivated and even wanting to die. In these disproportionate situations, they can make us suspect about the existence of an emotional disorder to which special attention should be paid, since it requires professional treatment.

Additional aspects

Although the physiological processes that intervene in the crying mechanism and the psychological elements that participate in it are known, there are aspects that are unknown and, therefore, remain a mystery. Crying seems to be an exclusively human characteristic, no other species cries its emotions.

Some theories state that the most basic act of crying is the result of physical pain, while the more complex ones state that it is the evolutionary result of a type of non-verbal communication that aims to obtain help from others. This is verified, for example, in the cry of a baby seeking the attention of its mother.

Be that as it may, the truth is that crying, under normal conditions, is a liberating act. And it is, because it allows you to express feelings and emotions beyond words. There are forms of pain that do not admit a speech, but require a physical gesture. That is what crying is: a bodily gesture that leads to a state of peace, when it is spontaneous.

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