Ep. 88 - CRYING - Interesting explanations from science

BIG PICTURE Social Emotional Learning Podcast

scientists have been studying crying, and they’ve divided the tears that come from crying into three distinct categories: reflex tears, continuous tears, and emotional tears. The first of those two categories - reflex tears - perform the important function of removing irritants, such as smoke and dust from our eyes. The 2nd of those 2 categories, continuous tears, serve to lubricate our eyes, which protects them from infection and from that awful dry eye feeling. The content of those 2 categories of tears is basically water, mixed in with some salt, of course. What’s extremely interesting, though, is the 3rd category of tears: Emotional tears are a whole other ‘animal,’… and they are far more important for long term mental health than I had ever before understood .…It has been objectively observed, by SCIENCE, that emotional tears flush stress hormones and other toxins out of our physical system. Science has identified *oxytocin and *endorphins as actual ingredients in emotional tears. The makeup of emotional tears is water and salt, yes, with the added ingredients of oxytocin and naturally-occurring opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. If you have children of your own and you breastfed them, then you may have been told about Oxytocin… Perhaps you even experienced its effects… that gentling surge of peace and well being, no matter how stressed you may have felt just minutes before your baby started to nurse. I remember that feeling to this day… I was always impressed how my body sent out hormones to regulate the mood and feelings I’d be emanating while my sons and I were connecting like that. Nature is so profoundly intelligent, eh?! Do me a favor, too, please… give a rating and review for this podcast on Apple podcasts, and like the Facebook page for the Big Picture Social Emotional Learning Podcast. Thanks. It means a lot to know that you appreciate what I’ve been sharing with you here. ’til next time… stay safe and be well. https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-crying https://www.medicinenet.com/are_there_any_benefits_to_crying/article.htm https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-freedom/201007/the-health-benefits-tears Harvard Health Blog: “Is Crying Good For You?” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nini-white/message