I have a strict policy that nobody cries alone in my presence!

I have a request from one of my favorite (and most dedicated) readers today – I adore her. Let’s talk about crying. First, the physiology…

Crying (scientific term: lacrimate) is the shedding of tears. Tears (a concoction of water, salt, oil and protein) are produced in the lacrimal gland (tear ducts). These are cute little almond-shaped glands found at the edge of each eye. These glands are responsible for all of the tears we shed – in humans there are 3 different kinds of tears.

The first type are basal tears. These are the ones we take for granted every day. Your body is constantly producing this type of tear (almost 10 ounces a day) just to keep your eyes from drying out and getting crusty. Saltwater crocodiles cry out lots of this type of tear as a way to expel extra salt. The next type of tear is the reflex tear. When your eye is blasted with lots of dust or smoke or an onion, the nerves in your eyes get mad and tell the brain there is a problem. The brain then tells your glands to turn on the waterworks and wash all of that ish out of your eyes. The last type of tear, to me, the most interesting: emotional tears.

Emotional tears start when your brain realizes it is too happy to function, beyond depressed, scared to death, is in pain because someone just jabbed a spork in your ear – overly stimulated. The brain sends hormones to the eye and the tears start flowing. Very straightforward…but why? What is the point of crying when you’re emotional? I say it all the time – the body doesn’t do anything that is a waste of energy. I get point of the other two types of tears, but why cry when you’re sad? No other animals (except for maybe elephants and gorillas – not proven yet) have emotional tears.

What is interesting about emotional tears is that they have a different chemical composition than other types of tears. Emotional tears contain higher levels of some chemicals than their counterparts, reflex tears. Some of these key chemicals include prolactin (a hormone associated with producing breast milk), Leu-Enkephalin (known to reduce pain and improve mood), Adrenocorticotropic hormone (produced by the body in times of stress) and the elements potassium and manganeses (both known to affect mood – both are major components of depression medications). This chemical difference hints that crying may actually be a way for your body to get some of these chemicals out that make it moody. Research in this area still needs a lot of work.

As a baby tears are helpful in letting a parent know that it’s not happy. Tears are also a pretty powerful form of nonverbal communication. I don’t know. Basically, scientists still don’t know either, but I still thought it was something interesting to think about.