There's no set number for healthy crying; it's normal to cry a lot or rarely, but crying is healthy when it's a release for emotions like joy, sadness, or stress, helping you process feelings and seek support. Seek professional help if crying becomes frequent, uncontrollable, disrupts daily life, or happens without apparent reason, as this could signal underlying issues like depression.
There are no guidelines for how much crying is too much. A study in the 1980s found that women cry an average of 5.3 times per month and men cry an average of 1.3 times per month. (i object to that study! )
Crying almost every day isn't necessarily abnormal, but it could be a sign that something deeper is going on. It's natural to feel emotional at times, especially during stress, grief, or big life changes.
Crying by itself does not impact physical health or mental health to any significant degree. In fact it's a good method of emotional release and many people feel so much better after having a good cry.
While crying is a natural and healthy process, excessive or frequent crying may signal underlying issues that need attention: Emotional Distress: Prolonged sadness or crying without a clear cause may indicate depression or anxiety.
In general, crying is normal and healthy. It can release stress, boost your “feel-good” hormones, and even provide natural pain relief. And, as many people know from experience, you often feel better after a good cry.
No guidelines exist that determine how much people should or should not cry. Studies indicate that women tend to shed more emotional tears than men. One study found that women cried an average of 5.3 times per month while men cried 1.4 times during the same period.
'Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain. Once the endorphins are released, your body may go into somewhat of a numb stage. Oxytocin can give you a sense of calm or well-being.
And no you can't quite "run out" of tears because they're not actually stored, but rather produced on demand. There is a limit on how fast the glands can produce tears, but not how much.
Examples of signs and symptoms include:
There are times when crying can be a sign of a problem, especially if it happens very frequently and/or for no apparent reason, or when crying starts to affect daily activities or becomes uncontrollable.
The first stage of a mental breakdown, often starting subtly, involves feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and increasingly anxious or irritable, coupled with difficulty concentrating, changes in sleep/appetite, and withdrawing from activities or people that once brought joy, all stemming from intense stress that becomes too much to handle.
Personality and Temperament: Some people are naturally more emotionally attuned and sensitive to the world around them — a beautiful strength, not a flaw. Mental Health Struggles: Anxiety, depression, and burnout often make emotions feel closer to the surface, leading to easier tears.
The benefits of crying include reducing stress, improving sleep, and strengthening social bonds by expressing emotions and seeking support. Additionally, crying helps clear irritants from the eyes, aids in processing grief, and temporarily improves vision by keeping the eyes lubricated and clear.
Gratitude is a feeling that requires us to focus on what is good in our lives and being thankful for what we have. According to the American Heart Association, the practice of gratitude can improve immune function.
Psychological symptoms
Bad Effects of Crying on Health
But for some, the act of crying can cause medical complications. It can lead to fits or can cause acute shortness of breath. For those with severe heart conditions, there can be a cardiac pain. Crying can take a toll on your body if you have certain medical conditions.
Limbic and Lacrimal Systems Collaborate to Make Emotional Tears. When your body makes emotional tears, your limbic system (the part of your brain associated with emotional arousal) signals your Pons (the brain's “message station”), which then relays a signal to your lacrimal system to produce tears.
The neuropeptides vasopressin, oxytocin, and prolactin, known for their involvement in the regulation of social (attachment) behavior in animals and humans [45], additionally seem to play a role in the production of distress vocalizations.
Crying can cause your body to produce hormones that make you feel better. You release oxytocin and endorphins after you cry, which can help lift your mood. If you feel emotional comfort when you cry, your mood can improve afterward.
Tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical makeup than those for lubrication; emotional tears contain more of the protein-based hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and Leu-enkephalin (a natural painkiller) than basal or reflex tears.
Tears not only help you express emotions but also keep your eyes healthy. The constant moisture provided by tears is essential for eye comfort and clear vision.
According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on crying, the average woman cries between 30 and 64 times a year, and the average man cries between 6 and 17 times a year. Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, and women cry for about six minutes.
Depression is a well-recognized cause of frequent and uncontrollable crying spells in adults. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mood condition that affects the feelings, thoughts, and day-to-day functioning of a person. One of its key emotional symptoms is persistent sadness and tearfulness without a clear reason.