Why Do We Cry?😭

Morning Cry Babies!

Crying is kinda weird when you think about it…

I mean, for some reason, when we get sad…

We produce this strange liquid around our eyeballs!

Very strange…

Especially since NO other animal on Earth does this.

So… why do we do it?

Well take a look at durds eye…

Up here just above the eye is where you'll find the lacrimal gland aka the tear gland.

(this is where the tears come from)

Then down below the eye you’ll find something called the lacrimal sac.

Which is actually used to collect excess tears and filter them through to the nose.

This is why you start getting a runny nose when you're crying!

But as for WHY we cry, it doesn't just happen when we're sad…

It turns out there's actually 3 different types of tears!

Including:

1: Basal tears

These guys are there to constantly keep lubricating your eyes, in order to keep them from drying out.

2: Reflex tears

These ones start-a-flowin when an irritant like onion fumes, dust or some other tiny objects get into the eye which then trigger a response from the tear glands to flush out any unwanted irritants.

3: Sadness tears

Finally there's the one you’ve all been waiting for…

Tears of sadness.

Why do we have 'em?

Well, crying when we're sad likely evolved as a way for ancient humans to communicate to other ancient humans that they are sad or distressed.

But also, crying may have actually served as somewhat of a survival strategy!

Ya really, by reducing stress and anxiety (which can be detrimental to survival).

Think of it like a natural emotional pressure valve.

When we cry, we're essentially letting off steam, releasing those pent-up emotions and feeling a bit lighter.

Studies have shown that tears of sadness contain higher levels of the stress hormones, suggesting perhaps crying may help literally flush stress out of your body!

So when you're feeling stressed or down, just have a cry!