Last update: February 19, 2015
We all know that laughing is good and that it is not only pleasant to see a person with a face illuminated by a smile, but that it is also beneficial for our body: the brain releases endorphins that increase the level of adrenaline and help stimulate the imagination, releases dopamine, which promotes mental activity, and releases serotonin which has calming effects and decreases anxiety. It is a fabulous gesture that is accepted and valued on a social level, but cry? The tears?
Only small children cry openly without dissimulation, while we adults take refuge in solitude to let off steam or, even worse, we avoid doing it. We prefer to hold back the tears and carry on clenching our fists, but is it good for our health?
Cry to be happy?
There are several studies that ensure that yes, that something as inherent in human beings as the ability to cry is necessary to be happy. Dr. William Frey, of Saint Paul Ramsay Medical Center, Minnesota, assures us that tears are as necessary as smiles; they ease tensions, lessen sadness and allow a person to get to know each other much better and to relate more openly to others.
Not only this, but there is a lot of research that states that depressed people are those who cry less: the psychiatrist Cristian Prado, master in Neuroscience at the University of Chile, explains these data by emphasizing that "a percentage of depressed people stop expressing", that is a part of the brain structure shuts down on a functional level and leads to an indifference to pain and a desperate search to remain isolated.
Crying is not a weakness
Absolutely. Tears are part of us, they are part of our self and they are a mechanism of escape and relief; it is a way to balance emotions, to rearrange feelings. They play a vital role in human development and we must not engage in silencing or swallowing them.
It is curious to experience those moments in which, unwittingly, we end up crying in front of other people, the instant in which we see ourselves attacked by that common reaction for which they try to console us by saying "don't cry, nothing happens, crying will not solve the problem, calm down ". It is true that tears will not solve what makes us feel bad or obscures us, but they certainly are a start.
Crying vents and gives tranquility; the body relaxes and, on many occasions, we even end up falling asleep. It is a way of releasing that accumulation of negative emotions that overwhelm us at a certain moment in life, helps us feel good afterwards and becomes a teaching on how to manage our emotions. Once we have calmed down and have regained our strength, we will certainly begin to see things in another way; we are probably beginning to feel more confident about opening those doors that fill our existence with darkness. Therefore, we must not store tears in small invisible lakes, ponds that end up poisoning us with negative sadness.
Just look for a corner in which to immerse ourselves in our privacy and simply cry ...
