Did you know that crying releases stress hormones?

Judith Orloff, M.D. has a great article in the 7/21/10 Huffington Post, “The Health Benefits of Tears.” Here’s an excerpt:

Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis discovered that reflex tears are 98 percent water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones which get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.” Read the whole article here.

This entry was posted on July 23, 2010 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Did you know that crying releases stress hormones?”

Josh Houghton Says:
July 31, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Hi Susan,

Thanks for posting this interesting article. It amazes me that such a simple act such as crying that most people overlook can have such a positve effect on our bodies.

Great article

Josh
Susan Gold Says:
August 2, 2010 at 9:54 am
Hi Josh,

Thanks for writing. Glad you found the article interesting. It is pretty amazing.

Susan