What about crying?

After my post the other day about the benefits of laughter I started thinking about the benefits of tears.

Many of us adoptive parents have cried more tears, and cried more often, than we ever thought we would, or could. But the tears are more than just an expression of sadness arn't they? For me, it's another form of stress relief, of acknowledging the grief and loss I feel, of being able to let go of wanting to, but failing at, having everything under control and being a perfect parent.

"Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis discovered that reflex tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones which get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.” Interestingly, humans are the only creatures known to shed emotional tears, though it’s possible that that elephants and gorillas do too." (Psychology Today)

Crying makes me feel better even if the problem/issue still exists. Nothing has changed, except afterwards, I do feel like I can then get up and carry on.

There's definitely a connection when we're laughing so hard, we're crying. Both make us feel better.