Why crying is good for your health, but too much could be a sign of deeper problems
Crying is known to have a soothing effect and ‘emotional tears’ can even help rid our bodies of stress hormones. Some organisations are now going so far as to open crying rooms for their staff and visitors for them to have good wail
Crying is not just a natural emotional expression; it is also a healthy one, with tremendous therapeutic benefits. But if it gets out of hand, it might indicate a serious underlying problem.
Few would admit to enjoying shedding a few tears when they are angry, sad or stressed, but crying when we’re emotional about something usually makes us feel better afterwards.
According to Dr Jackie Chan, a clinical psychologist at the Hong Kong Psychological Counselling Centre in Mong Kok, crying is emotionally cathartic.
“It does have a soothing and relaxing effect,” he explains. “When we cry, our heart rate and breathing slow down a little and we start to calm down. We might even experience a mood boost after a good cry. Crying is useful for helping people release and express their suppressed or repressed emotions.”
There are a few studies that appear to support the emotional and physiological benefits of crying. In his well-known 1981 study, “tear expert” Dr William Frey, a biochemist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, found that emotional tears – those shed in response to an emotion – contain stress hormones and other chemicals that build up in the body while we are under stress, and help to rid us of them. His research was published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.