Whenever you feel stressed or frustrated, one of the best ways to release all that tension that has been built up is through crying. Sometimes, it just feels good to shed some tears for a while when you’re alone and pensive. But according to research, crying has other benefits too like helping regulate our breathing.
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“We became interested in this topic when trying to understand the different possible ways that crying might function to help us, and to try to get a different perspective on why crying is so widely associated with feeling better,” explained study author Leah Sharman of the University of Queensland.
“One of the main ways that crying is often thought about is that it gets rid of toxins or brings about some kind of biological change that helps us to deal with stressful or painful situations. So we thought it would be interesting to try to test that.”
One of the primary findings of the research is that though crying doesn’t help lower our stress levels, it helps in maintaining stability and soothing us by slowing down and regulating our breathing and heart rate.
However, there are limitations to the research as well. For instance, these may not necessarily apply to real world situations such as when people experience grief or loss. They don’t account for external factors like having someone with you during your painful moments.
Nonetheless, whether or not we could do research that would determine the exact function of crying, it doesn’t change the fact that whenever we want to alleviate stress or pain, crying helps among other things.
(Image credit: Tom Pumford/Unsplash)
Source: neatorama