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Crying helps you reduce body weight, study says
No one really likes crying but a good cry is actually favorable for everyone.
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Sad young woman watching television and crying (Shutterstock/Ljupco Smokovski)
C
rying is humans’ natural response to pain, stress, sadness, and happiness. According to Dr. Aaron Neufeld of Los Altos Optometric Group, there are three types of tears called the Basal, Reflex, and Psychic tears.
Basal tears are considered as the “basic functional tear” because they keep our eyes moist. The Reflex tears or the “irritation tears” are caused by environmental stressors like wind gusts and smoke. While the Psychic tears, on the other hand, are those associated with individual feelings and emotions.
A recent study shows that emotional crying will help you lose weight because it is linked to hormones that heighten the cortisol level, which is induced when you have bottled up emotions. As a matter of fact, a biochemist named William Frey even found out that stress-induced tears remove many kinds of toxic substances from the body, and thus concluded that weeping is an excretory process that removes such substances that can build up during times of emotional stress.
Read also: The fascinating reason why onions make us cry
In response to this, our body can’t possibly store more fat since you’ve already released the stressful hormones through crying.
However, the study added that tears that were triggered by real emotions will only take effect with this benefit. Scientists also advised shedding your tears from 7 to 10 PM because it’s the best time when you can cry over sad movies or your broken relationships.
No one really likes crying but a good cry is actually favorable for everyone. So get your tissues ready and ring the blues.
This article appeared on the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
