Is it hard to cry from happiness, what are the bitterest tears, and why do we cry at all?
Our tears are 98% water. The remaining 2% are inorganic substances, most of which are sodium chloride, the same table salt we use to cook our food. This is what causes the salinity of tears. The degree of salinity, or rather the chemical composition that causes it, can vary depending on the state of the body.
Tears are divided into basal, reflex, and emotional tears. Basal tears constantly moisten the cornea and protect the eyes from dust. Reflex tears are the body’s response to strong stimuli: onion fumes, foreign particles, or tear gas. Emotional tears appear when we feel pain, are upset or happy.
It is not easy to laugh until you cry. To do this, you need to use all facial expressions. If a person who is crying has 43 muscles working, and a person who is laughing has only 17, then all 60 must work to produce tears of joy. Perhaps this is why people cry from joy much less often than from grief. There are also tears of pity. They are considered the saltiest
In terms of its composition, the latter type of tears differs from other types by having a higher protein content. And stress hormones are known to be protein-based. It turns out that the appearance of emotional tears is part of the human body’s emergency response system. With the help of them, it seeks to flush out excess hormones and balance the mood (My Planet wrote more about this in the article “Why does a person cry when he or she is sad?”).
Stress can be caused not only by sad but also by happy news. However, it is not easy to laugh until you cry. To do this, you need to engage all facial expressions. If a person who is crying has 43 facial muscles working, and a person who is laughing has only 17, then all 60 must work to produce tears of joy. Perhaps that’s why people cry from joy much less often than from grief.
There are also tears of pity. They are considered the saltiest. And all because when a person feels this emotion, the thyroid gland begins to work hard. As a result, the amplitude of signals in the cerebral cortex increases, the adrenal glands function more strongly, and the heart beats more frequently. All these processes resemble those experienced by the body during sports.
By the way, that’s why sweat also tastes salty. When a person cries with joy, these processes are not triggered, and therefore the tears of happiness are not so salty.
What is the composition of the tears of the actors crying from the TV screens? It’s different. After all, such tears are not caused by emotions, but “on demand”. Thus, they contain less protein than emotional tears and are more similar in composition to basal and reflex tears.
