How Crying Can Help You, Here Is What A Study Says

It may be good to cry out loud. (Photo: Getty Images)

They say that there's no sense in crying over spilled milk. But what do they know? Crying can get you another glass of milk if you do it loud enough. Plus, crying may serve a real physiologic purpose, according to a study published recently in Emotion, meaning the journal and not in an Emo-kind of way.

For the study, three researchers from the University of Queensland (Leah S. Sharman, Genevieve A. Dingle, and Eric J. Vanman) and one from Tilberg University (Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets) recruited 197 female undergraduate students. They said that they choose all women rather than including men because pilot testing of sad videos had revealed that more women than men cried or at least more women revealed that they were crying. This did not account for the men who cried inside or used some bro-language or high fives to hide the crying.

The research team then showed each of the study participants either a video that are supposed to make them feel sad (sad videos) or a video that was not supposed to elicit any emotion (neutral videos) like something from a documentary or a ted talk. Each video lasted for close to 18 minutes. After the video, the researchers noted whether or not each participant had cried while watching the video. Ultimately, 65 participants watched the neutral video, 71 watched the sad video and cried during it, and 61 watched the sad video and did not cry. Presumably, no one cried during the neutral video. But then again, actor Bryce Dallas Howard was able to cry when Conan O'Brien talked about Home Depot in this Conan clip:

Then, each participant underwent a Cold Pressor Stress Test (CPT), which involved placing the participant's left hand, up to the wrist, in cold 0° to 5°C water. Unless you are the Iceman or Killer Frost, this is supposed to be painful. The research team measured how long each participant could stay in this position until pulling her hand out of the water. During the study, the research team continuously measured each participant's heart rate and respiratory rate and periodically measured cortisol levels from saliva samples. Cortisol is a stress-hormone that's produced by the body.

Also, at four points during the study, participants answered questions from the Positive and Negative Affect Scale short form (PANAS). These questions asked the degree to which the participant was experiencing ten different emotions and to rank each on a five-point scale that ranged from a one (very slightly or not at all) to a five (extremely).

When it came to cortisol levels and how long the participants could keep their hands submerged in the cold water, the study ended up finding not much difference between the neutral video watchers, the sad video non-criers, and the sad video criers. So if you are about to dunk yourself in cold water or take a cold shower, it may not help to cry first.

But here's a difference that the study found. Are you ready? Take a deep breath. The difference was breathing rates. While watching the videos, the non-criers tended to have elevations in their breathing rates, whereas, by contrast, the criers tended to maintain their initial breathing rates. In other words, tearing up could have helped participants better control their breathing rates. This provides further evidence that crying may help you better regulate arousal, serving as an emotional release.

Another interesting finding was that right before crying, participants tended to experience decreases in their heart rates, seemingly in anticipation of the crying. Once the crying began, their heart rates then tended to creep back up but not above where their heart rates had been before everything began. This may be further evidence that crying has a beneficial regulatory effect on your physiology.

So perhaps next time you start crying you can tell people that you are regulating your physiology. You've probably heard of people saying that they had a good cry and feel better after they've let the tears flow. It can be important to find reasonable ways to periodically release your emotions. Otherwise, you may end up bottling everything up like a hot air balloon that can explode when you least expect it.

Moreover, crying can be a way of communicating. It's really the only way that babies can express their needs before they learn how to say things like "why you throwing shade on me," or "I'm not Gucci." Crying can help communicate to others that you need more sympathy, comfort, or help. Of course, this can be misused. You don't want to cry every time your order at a restaurant doesn't come out right. And of course, there is the whole concept of crocodile tears: people crying to get something when they don't really mean it.

Crying can also be a way of communicating with yourself. Even when you cry alone, you may be telling yourself about your own state because, like many people, you could be terrible at reading your own emotions and situation. Tears could be your body's way of saying, "hey, take a break," or "something's not right," or "take care of yourself." Tearing up can then be a way of your body literally crying out to you.

Your body is a complex system. Crying can be complex. Your tears can flow when you are very sad, very angry, or even very happy. Better understanding what causes us to cry and what happens as a result could help us better handle our emotions and stress.

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Pets can help slow dementia progress among those over age 50 who live alone, study says

A new study suggests getting that cute dog in one's more mature years might be a good idea after all. 

Researchers from the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, found that pet ownership can be associated with slower rates of developing dementia. 

The study, published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, determined that owning a pet made a difference in verbal memory and fluency among adults who lived alone.

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The study's author, professor Ciyong Lu, said in the study that slower rates of declining verbal memory and fluency were seen in those who lived alone — but not in those who lived with others.

"Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates [of] verbal memory and verbal fluency," he said. 

Researchers found that owning a pet helps those with dementia.  (iStock)

The research involved more than 7,900 participants over the age of 50, with roughly 35% of them owning pets and 27% of them living alone.

In the study, Lu said that those living alone with a pet showed slower rates of developing signs of dementia.

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"These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone," he said.

"Contrary to living alone," the authors also wrote, "pet ownership (for example, raising dogs and cats) is related to reduced loneliness, an important risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline."

A new study found that owning a pet could be beneficial for people with signs of dementia who live alone.  (iStock)

Lu said that clinical trials will be necessary in order to confirm the study's findings.

Currently, more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia — with nearly 10 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

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Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which is currently the 7th leading cause of death, the WHO also notes. 

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, experiencing personality changes, engaging in inappropriate behavior and more. (iStock)

Early symptoms of dementia include forgetfulness, being confused, losing track of time, misjudging distances, feeling anxious, personality changes, inappropriate behavior and more.

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There is currently no cure for dementia or for someone developing signs of dementia, but the WHO suggests that staying active and continuing to stimulate the brain may help.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Lu for further comment. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.

Brittany Kasko is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital.