Does crying burn calories? Since humans feel every emotion and they might also cry for various reasons. Most people wonder if crying burns calories. If yes, how many calories it burns? If you are of these people who wonder about this, you clicked on the right article. We will give you every information related to it. So, keep reading this article till the end to know everything that is related to crying.

1. Does Crying Burn Calories?

There are various reasons for crying. Dealing with a breakup, loss of a loved one, physical stress, emotional stress, and mental breakdown are a few reasons which make humans cry. The question is does crying burn calories? Let’s find out the answer!

According to one study, it was found that crying burns the same calories as laughing which is 1.3 calories per minute. According to calculations, you are most likely to burn approximately 26 calories in 20 minutes of the crying session. The fact that you can easily burn 26 calories without using your tears is enough. You don’t need to shed tears for this.

When you are dealing with tragedy or traumatic events, you might experience a change in your weight. However, it is not because of the calories burned by crying but because of a change in your appetite.

Crying does burn calories. However, it does not burn enough calories to interfere with your weight gain or weight loss. It just burns a minimal amount of calories.

2. Does Crying Make You Lose Weight?

As already stated, crying is your body’s natural response. However, some people cry too easily while some fight through their tears. Whenever you cry, you produce psychic tears which turn your psychological response into a psychical one. It impacts your brain signals, hormones, and even metabolic processes.

Researchers are curious to know if crying has a wider and long-term impact on your body. Since crying is associated with burning some calories in the human body, some people have started to assume that crying makes them lose weight. However, there is no scientific proof for this claim. So, there is no confirmation about the same.

3. Benefits of Crying

As we all know, crying is a normal human reaction that is triggered by many overwhelming responses. However, research shows that there are also many benefits of caring for every human. Keep reading the article to know the benefits of crying.

3.1) Detoxifies the Body

Continuous teras which is a type of tear produces a lubricant that lubricates your eyes and keeps them healthy. It also protects them from every possible infection. Emotional tears have also their own benefits.

However, the major difference between these two is that continuous tears have 98% water, and emotional tears contain stress hormones and other toxins which are considered unhealthy for your emotional well-being.

Researches show that crying helps you to release these toxins and keep you healthy.

3.2) Improves Mood

It is no wonder that we tend to cry a lot when we are in distress. However, it is considered a good sign as you take deep breaths while sobbing. Taking deep breaths improves your mood and lifts you up.

Breathing in cooler air also lowers the body temperature and regulates your brain. Science says that a cooler brain is more pleasurable to your body than a warm brain. In conclusion, sobbing or crying for a few minutes improves your mood.

3.3) Helps Recover from Grief

When people are dealing with grief, it is natural that they will tend to cry more. Moreover, grieving is a process that has many steps. It involves periods of many positive and negative emotions such as anger, guilt, and many more. According to a study published, it is important for humans to cry in the process of grieving. It will help you to accept reality and move on in your life.

As we already know, excess of anything is bad. So, if you find yourself in a position of excessive crying or a position where crying starts interfering with your everyday life, it would be a good option to check in with your doctor once.

3.4) Restores Emotional Health

Crying is not only reduced to a sad situation. People might cry when they are extremely happy, anxious, scared, or even when they are scared. Research at Yale University suggests that crying helps you to deal with your emotions.

It is your body’s way to recover from experiencing such strong emotions. Shedding tears helps you to restore your emotional balance. After a crying session, you will feel normal again.

3.5) It Dulls Pain

A long session of crying releases a happy hormone called oxytocin. These are feel-good chemicals that your brain releases and this helps you to ease your psychical pain and also emotional pain.

When endorphins are released, your body might go into a state of numbness and the release of oxytocin gives you a sense of calmness and soothes your body. So, this is one of the many ways crying helps you to soothe your body.

3.6) Rallies Support

If you are not having a good day, crying is a way to ask people for help and support. Science says that crying is always associated with asking for help even when you are a baby.

When you were a baby and could not say anything, you would cry to let your mother know that you needed her support. So, crying has always been an attachment behavior. Crying helps you to gather support and help from your loved ones and builds a social support network around yourself.

3.7) Keeps Your Mental Health Stable

Crying helps you to keep your mental health stable by releasing feel-good chemicals and giving your mood a blast. It soothes your body and your emotional stress and then prevents this energy from turning into mental health problems such as anxiety disorder, depression, and many more.

A small session of crying could also be motivating for you. While crying, it is normal that you won’t want to do anything but after shedding tears, you will be ready to move forward in your life as crying often makes you feel motivated and better.

Summing up, crying has a lot of health benefits. Many people think that crying is related to a sign of weakness. According to them, weak people cry and strong people hold their emotions within themselves. However, you should always remember that crying is not a sign of weakness. Actually, it is a sign of strength because it takes a lot of courage to cry and let all your emotions flow.

Crying is as important as laughing for your body. So, the next time, don’t hold your emotions but cry whenever you can! Whenever you feel like crying, cry and let all your emotions and stress flow out of your body.

4. When does Crying Becomes Unhealthy?

Crying is highly beneficial for your overall health as it helps you to deal with different human emotions and thus it balances hormones. However, it may not produce good results with excessive crying. The question is when does crying become unhealthy?

If you are recovering from a traumatic event, it is okay to cry for a few days and even months. There is also nothing wrong with crying occasionally. If you crying too much or maybe even crying over every small thing, it may be a sign to consult a doctor as soon as possible. Uncontrablle crying may also be considered unhealthy. It is unhealthy when it starts impacting your daily life. So, be concerned about your tears and keep a tab on them.

Seek out help if you feel like you need help or someone! There is nothing to be embarrassed about!

5. When to See a Doctor?

Crying is considered normal in response to happy and sad moments. As already stated above, it also has lots of health benefits for both, your physical body and your mental and emotional well-being. However, excess of anything is bad. So, if you find yourself crying frequently, you need help. Many people think it is shame to go to a therapist or mental health professional but remember, it takes a lot of courage to open up and ask for help. If you don’t ask for help, you might suffer from mental illness.

So, when should you ask for help? When should you see a doctor? According to mental health experts, when your hair of crying starts interfering with your daily chores, it is a sign for you to ask for help. Even if you involuntarily shed tears, you need help. Don’t be scared! Open up and ask for help! You can also talk to people who are close to you! Make your loved ones understand what you are going through.

Experts also say that excessive crying may be a sign of depression. Other symptoms of depression include:

• Sudden weight loss or gain
• Random mood swings
• Lack of energy
• The feeling of numbness and unworthlessness
• Trouble sleeping or not being able to sleep
• Change in your eating habits
• The feeling of hopelessness and sadness
• Unexplained muscle pain and other aches
• Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
• Loss of interest in physical activity
• Social isolation
• Frequent crying

In case you are suffering from such symptoms, it is advisable to consult a doctor at the earliest. In case you know someone who is dealing with all these symptoms, make them understand that it is normal and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Make them understand that they need help and it’s totally okay. Mental illness is considered the same as any other physical illness. If they could visit a doctor for their physical pain why not visit a therapist for mental illness?

6. Taking a Step Closer Toward Your Mental Health

Taking a step toward your mental well-being is very important. We live in a society where we have to deal with stress every day. So, it becomes important to take care of yourself. There are some easy steps that will make you feel happy and motivates you to deal with your stress full life.

Eating healthy and regular meals and getting exercise every day will go a long way. Don’t let anyone interfere with your sleep. Always take at least 7 hours of sleep daily. Indulge yourself in the physical act and practice gratitude. You can also maintain a gratitude journal for this. Journalize your thoughts. Take up a hobby.

Do something which relaxes your mind. Set realistic goals and complete them. Completing goals makes everyone happy. Give yourself time to move on and deal with any kind of grief. Avoid alcohol and caffeine in extreme quantities. It is not good for both your physical and mental health.

Talk about your feeling and don’t hold them. It is totally valid to feel negative emotions sometimes. Let yourself feel them. Work on yourself regularly. Be in touch with your friends, family, and your loved ones. Socialize with others. Meet new people and have fun. Take out time for yourself and care for others. Practice meditation and mindfulness. If you are comfortable you can also try other breathing exercises.

Lastly, understand that it is as necessary as your physical health. Keep a check on your mental and emotional well-being.

7. Summing Up

It is true that a good cry helps you to maintain your emotional balance but you should be aware of the reason you are crying. Even when you are not aware of the reason you are crying, you should know that you are frequently crying. It is true that crying has other health benefits but it is also true that frequent crying denotes the symptoms of mental illness.

The next time, if you experience intense emotion and want to cry, don’t hold your tears. Have a good cry! Don’t be ashamed of crying! It will help you to feel better. However, remember to consult a doctor when you think you need help!

As of now, it is time for us to say goodbye to all our lovely readers but we hope to see you all soon with our new piece of article. Till then, have fun and take care of yourselves. See you all very soon!