If you have plans of shedding a few pounds but you are not ready for intermittent fasting or an intense workout at the gym yet, then you can try crying. According to a recent study in California, shedding some tears releases toxins from your body, and it reduces stress. Stress reduction helps your body burn fat.
Crying is our natural response to emotion, from pain to stress, from sadness to happiness. Dr. Aaron Neufeld of Los Altos Optometric Group said that there are three types of tears: the reflex, basal, and psychic tears.
Basal tears are also known as the basic functional tear because they keep our eyes moist. The reflex tears, also known as the irritation tears, are caused by environmental stressors like smoke, dust, wind, or even allergy. Psychic tears are those that are linked to our feelings and emotions.
The study stated that emotional crying or psychic tears could help you lose weight because of its connection to hormones that increase our cortisol level.
Cortisol is a hormone that is related to our alertness. When your cortisol level is high, you are active, awake, motivated, and responsive to your environment. After you cry, your cortisol helps you feel better, and it gives you the energy to move and do something productive since you already released your stress hormones.
Cortisol is not always positive. If you bottle up your emotions and you refuse to let it out or cry, it will stay on a high level; thus, you may find yourself having trouble sleeping, or you can't relax no matter how much you try.
William Frey, a biochemist, found out that tears that are stress-induced remove different toxic substances from the body. He concluded that crying is an excretory process that can help remove substances that can bottle up during our times of emotional stress.
Once you've shed tears, your body can't store more fat since the stressful hormones were already released. The study also added that tears that are shed because of emotions are the only ones that will help you lose weight. Scientists who released this study also added that the best time to cry is from 7 PM to 10 PM because these are the best times that you can cry since there is little to no chance of you getting interrupted.
At the end of the day, no one likes to cry. However, a good cry is healthy for you as it can help you relax more and feel better instead of keeping all of your emotions hidden.
