Obviously crying is the result of feeling strong emotions. But is there a physical/biological reason for it? What is the purpose of tears and wet eyes?
Crying lowers stress for whatever complex neurochemical reasons. Could be an accident of evolution.
Babies can’t talk, so it’s probably a way to communicate to the parents and illicit an instinctive response.
Eyes are important for survival, and also susceptible to debris and damage. Babies are inexperienced and explore and experiment with their surroundings in dumb ways. So if a baby is hurt or upset, it might make sense to flush the eyes out just in case. If an eye irritant is the reason the baby is upset, the cost of a few tears is very low compared to the value of the eyes.
A lot of animal behaviors emerged via evolution because they “just work” in certain situations in the wild. They don’t always make a lot of sense to us today, sitting indoors in front of our screens. But they worked well enough for some scenarios to carry forward.
Nature: oh, you like doing random ass shit? Take this! Now you are blind!
Baby: cries even more
Non-verbal communication. It helps when you can’t say you are hurt but your tribe can see you are crying, thus in distress and help.
Actually when we cry we release certain types of chemicals and endorphins which make us feel good. Kinda like your body is saying hey you’re sad, this will cheer you up.
Happy tears* and sadness tears are chemically distinct iirc
Yeah I think there was research that sad tears had increased stress hormones in them, making them a stress reliever as well… But honestly I’m only just going off my memory
Mostly because I’m a failure at being a functional human being. Sometimes it’s because I stubbed my toe, or I hit my funny bone. Usually it’s the soul-crushing despair, though.
As if you’re perceptive enough to know whether or not you’re a failure at being a functional human being.
Maybe if you tried harder.
Edit: apparently it wasn’t clear enough that I’m not serious
“All you need to do is this thing that I can do and if I can do it, so can anyone else.”
said the paraplegic to the quadriplegic.
Are you a terminator?
So, catharsis aside, tears help keep your eyes from drying out, provide lubricant for your eyelids, and help remove debris while providing some protection of that debris scratching on the way out.
Removed by mod
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdMNYn2MEac I know now why you cry. But it’s something I can never do.
Knew someone was going to rock this, thank you!
I heard that there are 3 types of tears, and the type that comes out when we’re upset has a natural painkiller in them.
Based on empirical evidence, the last three times were: an abscess bursting in a sensitive area, being kicked in the nuts, and eating really good cheese. Pain, pain, delight.
