Here is why everyone should cry

“The first two categories perform the important function of removing debris such as smoke and dust from our eyes and lubricating our eyes to help protect them from infection.”

It is not news that women cry more than men, according to the American Psychologist Association, “The average number of times a year that women cry emotional tears, as compared with 5 to 17 times per year for men, according to a study of self-reports from more than 7,000 people in 37 countries.”

Psychologist Georgia Ray posits that there are sociological and physiological reasons why men do not cry as much as women do. “Men have significantly lower levels of prolactin (hormone-related to emotional tears) as compared to women.” and then there is the societal stereotype that discourages men from crying.

But here is why everyone should cry;

Crying helps you express your emotions instead of just bottling them up. Bottling up your emotions is called repressive coping and this is bad for your mental and physical health. Repressive coping causes hypertension, health diseases, stress, and depression.

According to Harvard Health, “Crying has also been shown to increases attachment behaviour, encouraging closeness, empathy, and support from friends and family.”

When we cry, we can garner comfort from friends and family, and it improves our relationship with them.

Crying also makes you feel better. When you cry especially during sobbing, you take in air and taking in the air helps calm you down.

We do not cry only when we are sad but when we are happy or excited. We might express those feelings with tears in our eyes when we do this, we calm down.

Interestingly, a baby needs to cry when it first comes out of the womb. This is because crying provides them with the opportunity to start breathing on their own and helps their lungs adapt to the world outside their mother’s womb.

So, next time you feel like crying or see someone crying, please let those tears flow freely.