Benefits of crying
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Chapter 9 endnote 8, from How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett.
Some context is:
If you are not a reader, see a compelling film. If the story is sad, have a good cry, which is also beneficial to [your body] budget. [...] Crying, when it slows your breathing, will tweak your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps calm you.
The interested reader can see Why Only Humans Weep: Unravelling the Mysteries of Tears (Oxford University Press, 2013) by Ad Vingerhoets.
A recent, accessible article in Time discusses the science of crying, although it does not discuss the benefits of deep breathing and sighing that is often associated with crying.[1]
Notes on the Notes
- ↑ Hendriks, Michelle CP, Jonathan Rottenberg, and Ad JJM Vingerhoets. 2007. "Can the distress-signal and arousal-reduction views of crying be reconciled? Evidence from the cardiovascular system." Emotion 7 (2): 458–463.