The benefits of tears: crying is good for your health

In 2013, a new therapy was started in Japan that has been gaining followers after observing the beneficial results it has. We talk about Riu-Katsu, a group therapy, in which participants come together to watch sad movies and cry.

Crying can be much better than you imagined

But why cry in a group? According to an adept of this therapy “The Riu-Katsu is not like crying alone in my room. I don't feel depressed or sad exactly when I cry here, accompanied by other people ”.

We can give several answers to this statement. On the one hand, in a culture as rigid as the Japanese, where the expression of feelings is not socially accepted, Being able to cry in a group is a positive reinforcement and social acceptance of the expression of those feelings and, on the other hand, according to experts, crying in a group takes away the depressive component that people consider crying alone has. But, in addition, there is another factor to take into account, and that is the fact that most people do not know how to react to someone who cries and we tend to console and ask them to stop crying, since, socially and culturally, we feel uncomfortable when faced with certain manifestations emotional

Related article: "8 tears seen with a microscope reveal different emotions"

Riu-Katsu: therapies where crying is positive

Perhaps it may surprise us that there is a therapy based on crying, but there are scientific studies that confirm the benefits of tears for the emotional well-being of the person.

Crying is not always an expression of negative feelings. It's a reality that we cry for express sadness, sorrow and nostalgia but, also, we can cry with anger, pain and, in other cases, we cry to express happiness and joy.

Some benefits (physical and psychological) of tears

Tears prevent dry eyes, help fight bacteria that accumulate in them and clear the visual channel, but at the same time crying helps to release negative emotions, eliminates tensions and relieves stress. Also, it allows you to know yourself better, through crying you recognize your own weaknesses, needs and qualities. According to William Frey II, after crying the person sees more clearly because "there are no longer the penalties that obstruct the intellect."

Crying also produces physiological changes in the body, the tears themselves change their composition depending on how they respond to one function or another. According to researcher William Frey II, emotional tears contain more prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormones and leucine-enkephalin, which are neuromodulatory elements that act as a natural analgesic and help calm, relax and release the stress.

Crying has the ability to lower manganese levels in the body, which is related to anxiety states, nervousness and aggressiveness and, as if that were not enough, crying also allows you to eliminate adrenalin and noradrenaline, which are secreted excessively in situations of stress or danger and can be harmful.

Crying, important for homeostasis

Lauren Bylsma, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, for her part, states that eCrying helps the body return to a state of homeostasis after being disturbedIn other words, tears fulfill the function of returning the body to its basal level of functioning. It is for this reason, that after crying, a feeling of relief and relief is usually felt, which improves the general well-being of the person.

Just as we socially accept laughter as an expression of feelings of joy or nervousness and value subsequent feelings of well-being, we have to learn to accept crying, which is yet another manifestation of our emotions. For this, we have to educate from a young age in the recognition and expression of feelings and not censure those who express them freely, due to the discomfort that this manifestation generates in us and, above all, leaving behind the myths associated with tears and assuming that “crying is not makes us weaker ”, but on the contrary, crying strengthens us by helping us to remove the negative emotions we feel and give us back the Calm down.

And that "men do cry", because as human beings with feelings they have the right to express them.