The Science Behind Crying's Relief

Why the fuck does having a good cry actually make you feel better? Here's the science.

When you cry emotional tears—not the reflex tears from chopping onions—your body is literally excreting

stress hormones like cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone through your tear ducts.

You're crying out the chemicals that make you feel like shit. But that's not all.

Crying also triggers your brain to release endorphins, your body's natural painkiller,

plus feel-good hormones like oxytocin. So crying is basically a biological stress-relief system that flushes

toxins and pumps you full of happy chemicals at the same time. It's why you feel

emotionally lighter after ugly crying into a pillow. Your body knew what the fuck it was