Why Does Crying Make You Feel Better?

Sometimes, when you’re feeling overwhelmed, nothing hits the spot like 

a good, emotional movie. I mean, you’ve got the swelling music, and the ending that gives you all the feels, 

and then suddenly, you’re just weeping. But afterward, you somehow feel... 

better? You’re not alone in that. In studies, plenty of people have 

reported feeling better after a good sob. But the reasons why are kind of a mystery. 

And they range from social support, to brain temperature. For one possible explanation, we turn to some of 

the most celebrated sobbers in the world: babies. Babies cry for all kinds of reasons, from emotional ones to physical 

ones like hunger and discomfort. And it makes sense! Since human 

infants are pretty helpless, it's important to have a signal for 

caregivers that something is wrong. But for adults, tears might actually 

be a similar distress signal! In a 2019 study published in Motivation and 

Emotion, researchers asked 140 participants how much they’d be willing to 

help people they saw in photos. Half the photos showed people crying. And 

the other half showed the same people, but with the tears photoshopped out. And it turns out, tears had a really big effect. Most people reported being more willing 

to help when they saw those tear tracks. In fact, tears might be an even more 

important cue in adults than in babies. Another study revealed that 

photos of crying adults evoked more sympathy than photos of 

crying children and infants. That might be because participants rated the 

photos of bawling babies as more irritating. Which I mean, is kind of 

unfair; they can’t help it. But also, when babies are wailing, 

it’s primarily an auditory thing. Whereas adults are more likely to 

quietly cry, so it’s mainly a visual cue. So, the researchers think adult tears are 

seen as a subtle and sincere signal of emotional distress that’s designed 

to invite others to comfort us. Other researchers suggest that when adults weep, it tells other people that you're 

in less control than usual, and that you need help from someone who 

might be more in control at the moment. So, if crying connects you to someone 

who can comfort and support you, that may be one reason you’re more 

likely to feel better afterward. In fact, one study examined more than 4000 

people’s reports of recent weeping episodes. And the researchers found that 

when criers received comfort, they were more likely to 

experience improvements in mood. And if you cry when no one’s around? Well, it could just be your body’s 

automatic strategy to get support. That said, that’s not the only idea 

about why crying can feel so helpful. Others are rooted a little more in 

biology, and how our bodies work. Like, one idea is that crying might serve a basic, physiological purpose: to 

soothe your mind and body. Now, crying is contradictory, because 

it both works you up and calms you down. But the timing of those emotional shifts is key. In one study that involved 60 participants, peoples’ heart rates accelerated 

when they started to cry. But then, they quickly went back to normal. Meanwhile, their breathing became slower than 

normal, indicating they were calming down. Crucially, the soothing effect lasted two to 

three minutes longer than the agitating effect. So the researchers concluded that 

crying may be a self-soothing behavior. It's also possible that crying triggers the release of oxytocin -- a stress-reducing 

hormone associated with social bonding. That said, it's unclear whether oxytocin 

levels rise due to the biological act of crying or because the tears caused 

someone to, say, give us a hug. Either way, oxytocin helps improve our mood. And beyond that, there are several other 

reasons crying could make us feel better. Some scientists speculate that weeping releases opioids that boost our tolerance 

for physical and emotional pain. Others think crying might lower the 

amounts of stress hormones in the blood. And most bizarrely, some researchers say inhaling all that cold air when we’re sobbing might 

cool the brain, by literally cooling our blood. And that could alter the activity of neurotransmitters and create 

a pleasurable sensation. But these are just hypotheses, 

so we still have a lot to learn. The reason there’s so much uncertainty is because the way crying affects mood is 

really challenging to study. For one, it’s hard to get people to cry on demand. So, in a typical crying study, a 

participant might watch a sad movie alone. And that means the social 

motivations behind crying, like seeking support, don’t really come into play. After all, crying participants probably don’t 

want to have a heart-to-heart with the scientists. In fact, in laboratory settings, participants 

usually report feeling worse after crying. That may be because of the lack of support, or 

because they’re often being observed or filmed, which might make them self-conscious 

or ashamed about crying. So, the way we feel about crying and whether it’s okay in a certain situation 

can impact how it makes us feel afterward, too. Like, in one study, subjects were asked 

to either suppress crying or let it flow while watching a sad movie. In the end, people who were trying to hold 

back tears experienced a big stress response. But people who rarely shed tears but 

tried to force it also felt stressed. So when it comes to crying, 

do what comes naturally. If you want to let it out… let it out. If you enjoyed this episode, you 

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