Why do we humans cry?

Babies and toddlers crying loudly. They cry because they are hungry, cold, afraid or in pain… They cry at school, at home, in the park and in the supermarket. Many of them cry at all hours or several times a day. It is clear that in the absence of oral language, the crying mechanism allows children to claim the necessary attention for their care or to express discomfort, having a well-established adaptive function to obtain as a result, the help of the adult that satisfies their most basic needs.

This adaptive advantage, which guarantees the survival of the species by being a demand for help, especially in the human babies, was already pointed out by Darwin in his research on the adaptation of species, as a phenomenon universal.

Why do adults cry?

The human being has the ability to cry from when he is born until he dies, however, throughout development socio-emotional, the crying mechanism modulates its evolutionary survival function, based on the capacity for independence that is winning. Namely,

it is less common for an adult to cry because they are cold or hungry, because its adaptive mechanism will have passed to more complex and decisive mobilization functions, channeling its resources to the active search for its own food or shelter.

But then, and especially in the first world, why do adults cry, if their basic needs are covered? Do we cry less as adults because we no longer Does it help us? Why are there people more prone to crying and others who have not cried for years? Does crying do us good or is it the unhelpful expression of a simple discomfort? What is clear is that we are not talking about a mere biological effect, but about a complex mechanism in which physiological, psychological and social functions converge.

The biological function of tears

Biologically, tears are necessary for the maintenance of good eye health (eye lubrication, cleaning or protection from external agents) but they are also associated with powerful stimuli emotional, and not exclusively negative such as sadness, anguish, pain or frustration... but what we also cry with joy or surprise.

Crying and its relationship with emotional health

The understanding of crying in the adult human being and its relationship with emotional health has aroused great interest in experts and researchers. Some of the hypotheses that are considered (even without empirical support) is that through crying a certain hyperactivity is released, helping to establish a balance or reduce a specific stress. It is true that many people express feeling more relaxed after crying, but this assessment is not generalizable since many others do not notice changes in their emotional state or may even feel worse.

Thanks to research, it has been discovered that the components of tears are different depending on the agent that produces them, so that the tears that we secrete when we peel an onion are chemically different from the tears that we generate by stress emotional. In addition to typical tearing there are other physical changes associated with emotional crying, such as flushing of the face, sobbing, hyperventilation... "Emotional" tears are mainly made up of water, lipids, and other substances and differ from others in that contain higher amounts of hormones, which are usually associated with stress (prolactin, adrenocorticotropic and leucine enkephalins).

The importance of the autonomic nervous system

The control of crying depends on the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, in charge of restoring a bodily state rest or relaxation after exertion, stressor, hazard, or major bodily function (for example, digestion). It has a complementary and antagonistic function to the sympathetic branch.

In the event of an alert or high levels of tension, the sympathetic branch would be activated preparing the organism for a possible fight or flight, understanding that at that moment it is not smart to stop to cry, but to react to save your life or solve a problem.

For its part, the parasympathetic acts by inhibiting itself at that moment to later restore the normal state after the alarm. It is when the danger has passed that we can allow ourselves to relax and collapse. This explains why many people endure powerful stressors and strong emotional blows to which react apparently well, and after a while is when the emotional downturn occurs and the crying.

Crying can help you relax

So can we say that crying helps to relax? For many people, we can say yes. It really is a form of emotional discharge necessary at times, very healthy and not harmful, that many prefer to reserve to do alone. Other people prefer to cry accompanied. Although his demand does not refer to material resources of the other, crying allows expressing and making a request for help who generally elicits an emotional support response from the environment.

Crying activates in others their ability to empathy and emotional protection, reinforcing certain personal relationships and attachments (any shoulder is useless for crying).

Despite the important function of crying, it still remains in society, a barrier that protects us from this emotionality, as if it were something negative or that should be eradicated. Many people perceive themselves vulnerable, weak, defenseless when crying having an effect negative for their own image, which can be made worse if they also do not get the comfort they expect or need.

Socially we are not very tolerant of crying

Socially, We can say that we are not very tolerant of the crying of the other. We know that they suffer and their lament hurts us. The natural reaction of consolation is to want to prevent the other party from this expression, be it by gender "men do not cry", "do not be crying", "Crying is for girls", whether by right "do not be like that", "do not cry", "tell me what you need but stop crying", "it is not worth crying for that". These common expressions only reflect the discomfort that the emotional expression of the another and the inability to sustain facing such intensity, such request for help and emotional support adult.

Let's leave a space and a time to cry, let's assume that their presence is necessary, let's not feel compromised to have to make the origin of crying disappear, let's not try to argue the reasons for not crying, simply let us accompany this natural reaction and normalize its function and effect.