h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do I always feel tired after I cry? This happens to everyone, right?

Once I heard that it's because you take short breaths when you're crying and the small flow of oxygen makes you tired, but I don't think that's true.


Discuss.

you may be run down check with ur gp tig

sorry, whats my gp? my grandpa?

No, your general practioner (doctor)..

Well anyway, this has always happened to me. It doesn't happen to anyone else?

Yep..hence the term 'cry yourself to sleep' ,its always exhausting..

you might ve lonly and need a snog mawaaaaah

Crying always exausts oneslef, well it does to me anyhow But the real exaustion comes from what is making one cry in the first place lettuce know what that is tey t
we might be ale to help more? don;'t trust me min ou I'me drunk anyhow as a means of espace feomr life...

Conversely, I nearly always when I am extremely tired.

Ah, I was about to say that. Have been know to burst into tears at the slightest provocation if I am feeling exhausted

Me too . Get all irritable as well. Lack of sleep really does not affect me well at all...

hah. i was hoping for some sort of scientific explanation, i wasn't trying to get advice. i'll be happy crying and i'll get tired afterwards. anyway...

I think it's because there's adrenaline in tears, which is why people can feel better after a 'good cry'.

There's adrenaline in tears? I never knew that before. But it is true that a *good cry* can help release a lot of built-up tension and emotions, which means that afterwards one can end up feeling 'all worn out'. But in a good way. Like after having had great sex or after a good physical work-out at the gym - similar feeling.

I think I don't allow myself to cry often enough. But then if I put on a lovely schmaltzy romantic film to watch at home on dvd I might suddenly find myself awash in tears.

Personally, I think that the ability to cry is a very healthy thing.


az

I read it in a magazine years ago, but here's some scientist talking about it, so we know it's true - although this says 'derivatives', so I wasn't quite right.

"Clinical studies show that such tears contain derivatives of adrenaline, a hormone secreted in response to stress. The tears act as a safety valve excreting stress hormones when their levels get too high. This prevents potentially catastrophic rises in blood pressure."

http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=lw336

Interesting article, Mina.

I often think that laughing and crying are two sides of the same coin. Hence the expression - 'if you can't laugh about it you'd cry'.

Both things are very good for releasing tension, I think. I tend to prefer laughing myself. Which sometimes leads to people telling me I have a very 'caustic' sense of humour, but really it is nothing of the sort. You laugh at what you fear most - you make a total fool of it. Sometimes this works.

Other times a huge *big time* cry is the only thing on the menu. And I do think it can be very therapeutic so long as it doesn't become a 'habit' - ie, cry everytime the littlest thing upsets one.

Both laughing and crying are wonderful tools for dealing with stress.

At least, I think so.


az

could also be a sign of depression it wont do any harm seeing ur dr

The only time I remember crying in my adult life was relatively recently when hiking in the himalayas. I'd got ill (too many lassis made with dirty water I suspect) just before driving to somewhere a few thousand feet higher, so that I didn't acclimatise properly and I think I got a mild case of altitude sickness. I was then doing quite long and difficult walking for far too long every day. On the third day, after a particularly long day of hiking, we got to the place where we were planning to camp, only to realise that we couldn't camp there, and we had to continue for another couple of hours. I think it was about this time that I was so tired I literally couldn't stop myself from slumping down and crying. I was incredibly surprised actually, because for some reason I just don't cry. It was quite a remarkable experience, being literally unable to stop myself. Interesting, but one I could happily go without in the future.

That's very interesting about the adrenaline - makes alot of sense (although it's refuted further down the page in that article).

Crying also releases endorphins into the bloodstream, which is why those really good cries make one feel so good

I agree with az - the ability to cry is a definite advantage.


There hasn't been that much research done on crying, surprisingly (although I bet if men cried as much as women we'd know all about it See especially Darwn's ideas in the following article).

http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2094.html has a few bits in it on the phsiology.

Crazy old Darwin. Talk about taking something at face value.

His analysis is based completely on the mechanical aspects of facial muscles and the fact that water flows downhill. Apparently his experience of tears was limited to the odd punch up the side of the head.

It's amazing then to realise that when he found fish fossils on top of the Andes mountains he didn't just conclude they'd flown up there on the wings of angels. Instead he reasoned that the mountains must have once been under the ocean. For such a brilliantly analytical mind he sure missed the boat on crying.


~jwf~