All Categories, Pet Loss & Grief Support

Why We Cry When We Are Sad

If you think about crying for a minute, you probably think the reason we cry is obvious – it’s a release. Yes, this is completely true, but there’s a lot more to it than just that. Crying serves a great purpose for your health and well-being. Understanding why you cry can help you deal with it much easier.

According to the assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, crying releases built up energy. The energy is made up of feelings. When you cry, you are getting all of that pent up tension (energy) out of you. This can leave you feeling relaxed and much stronger because you don’t have all of that wearing you down.

Releasing energy serves as a survival mechanism, according to Dr. Jodi Deluca. Crying can help you see that you need to take care of some business – emotional business. It’s your body’s way of telling you something is very wrong, and you need to take care of it to make it go away.

In addition to alerting you to a problem, it also helps get rid of problems. When you cry, you release toxins from your body. It also decreases your stress hormones. This can leave your body much healthier than it was before you started crying.

When People Don’t Cry

What happens if you don’t cry, even though you really want to? All of the energy, toxins, and problems you are experiencing will get stuck inside of you. For some people, this becomes a habit. They keep all of these negative things in their body because they refuse to cry. It’s not healthy.

Over time, people who don’t cry end up exploding. Their sadness turns into anger, and they may end up taking it out on the people around them.

For some people, they end up having health problems. The toxins and the high levels of stress has taken a toll on the body, so it can’t ward off illnesses and diseases.

Another consequence of not crying is never truly finding what makes you happy. You need to release what makes you sad, so you can be happy. If you continuously keep sadness inside of you, it will just grow bigger and bigger as you gather other sad situations. Before you know it, you’re sad all of the time, and you may even classify yourself as suffering from depression.

It’s Time to Cry

If your pet has recently died, don’t keep all of those feelings inside of you. Find time to let it all out of you. That sadness wants to come out, so you just need to let it.

Crying may be difficult to do at first because you’ll feel a rush of emotions, but it’s the rewards you’ll receive afterwards that makes it worthwhile. After a good cry, you’ll be able to walk a little straighter. You’ll be able to deal with situations a little easier. You’ll be able to feel good inside not only now, but for many years.

Take care of yourself. Cry today, so you can be strong and happy tomorrow.