Does Crying Burn Calories? The Truth Behind the Tears

Some years ago, a popular website named AsiaOne published a viral post claiming that one can lose weight or burn calories by crying between 7 pm and 10 pm. Since then, people who stumble across this information immediately rush to search the internet to verify it. Thankfully, there is sufficient scientific information to prove or disprove the claim that crying burns calories.

We are not sure what triggered the question of whether crying burns calories or not. Whether it is related to weight loss or not, we can’t say for sure. However, some people have posited that excessive crying may cause weight loss in babies.

Whether you want to learn about some extra usefulness of the tears when you cry or you are just fascinated by the idea that crying could burn calories and help in weight loss, this post has everything you need to know.

Let’s dive in without delay.

The Physiology of Crying

Crying is a physiological response to intense emotions (joy, frustration, pain, or disappointment). It is also a reflex response to irritants, dust, smoke, and tear-inducing vapors. Depending on the stimulus triggering it, crying can be emotional (psychic) or reflex.

Emotional (psychic) crying which is what occurs following intense emotions involves a complex process in the brain that eventually leads to the stimulation of the lacrimal (tear) glands in the eyes. Following an emotional experience, the amygdala (part of the limbic system) processes the emotions and sends brain signals to the hypothalamus and brainstem, which send neural impulses via the autonomic (predominantly sympathetic) and lacrimal nerves to activate the lacrimal glands in the eyes.^[1]Bylsma LM, Gračanin A, Vingerhoets AJJM. The neurobiology of human crying. Clin Auton Res. 2019 Feb;29(1):63-73. doi: 10.1007/s10286-018-0526-y.

On the other hand, reflex crying involves direct stimulation of the lacrimal glands by irritants on the cornea, resulting in the release of tears into the eye to help wash off the irritants. It also contains some antibodies (IgA) that help kill some microorganisms introduced to the surface of the eyes.

Researchers have established that emotional crying releases oxytocin, dopamine, and endogenous opioids known as endorphins. These feel-good hormones help provide some relief for both physical and emotional pain associated with the cry.^[2]Is crying good for you? – Harvard Health Thus, crying has a physiologic function of making us feel better emotionally.

Does Crying Burn Calories?

Yes. Crying burns calories but this is not unexpected. Almost every activity in the body expends some form of energy which translates to calorie loss. In fact, reading this blog now consumes some of your calories, but the amount of calories expended via these ways is very negligible.

A study has estimated that crying expends up to 1.3 calories per minute, which means around 78 calories per hour.^[3]Does Crying Burn Calories? Potential Health Benefits – Healthline This is low compared to the average daily energy expenditure which is generally between 1500 to 2500 calories, depending on sex, age, body build, and basal metabolic rate (BMR).

If you are simply curious about whether or not crying burns calories, I guess the above answers pretty much satisfy your curiosity. Like other body activities, crying is an energy-expending process, and calories are the units of energy by the body. If one probably cries long enough without replenishing one’s energy stores via eating, one could feel significantly exhausted and weak.

However, if you want to know if crying can be a method of burning calories to lose weight, shedding tears may not be enough to cause that. For someone who wants to induce tears to burn calories for weight loss, this may not be an effective method of losing weight.

Do all Crying Burn Calories Equally?

Though there are two types of crying, three types of tears exist; basal tears (the constant tear film produced on the eyeball when you blink your eye), reflex tears (produced following eye irritation as in smoke and dust), and psychic tears (triggered by intense emotions). Basal tears do not qualify as crying because it is normally produced without any specific stimulus.

As expected, the two types of cry don’t have equal energy expenditures. Emotional or psychic crying requires the release of hormones and may be associated with sobbing, wailing, and tantrums, depending on the specific trigger for the cry. In contrast, reflex crying might not involve any significant energy-requiring physical or chemical process compared to the former.

What this means is that if you are trying to shed excess calories passively, applying tear-inducing chemicals to your eyes may not do much in burning calories. And no one wants to inflict pain or induce unnecessary emotions simply because they want to burn calories.

Can Cry Contribute to Weight Loss?

Crying may not significantly contribute to weight loss. This is because the amount of energy/calories expended through crying is usually not enough to cause weight loss.

Normal daily food intake is often adequate for most of our daily activities, and crying does not significantly affect our overall daily energy expenditure as you have seen.

In children, there is a myth that crying may burn calories and cause weight loss. This is also not exactly true because crying is usually a sign of distress in children. It could be a cry of hunger, meaning excessive crying might mean more food intake which can paradoxically cause weight gain instead.

Other Surprising Benefits of Crying

Since crying does not significantly cause weight loss, what other benefits could it have? Several studies have highlighted the following benefits of crying.

1. Crying lubricates your eyes, and enhances vision.
2. Crying provides relief from pain and distress through the release of endorphins.
3. It helps communicate your needs and get help and attention from other people.
4. It enhances your mood.
5. It helps you recover from grief.
6. Crying helps a baby breathe more.
7. Crying relieves stress, etc.

How to Stop Crying Excessively

You might be worried that you might lose too much weight from excessive crying. Maybe you experienced a tragic situation or a painful experience that makes you cry incessantly, or it could be a side effect of medications like Docetaxel.

Sometimes, crying excessively can be a sign of depression. While it is okay to cry occasionally, if you notice that you are crying too much, it might be necessary to seek help.

Here are some helpful ways to stop crying and stay comforted.

1. Ask yourself what it’s worth crying.
2. Comfort yourself by imagining the better days ahead.
3. Distract yourself from what triggered the pain.
4. Take deep breaths.
5. Engage in your hobbies.
6. Exercise helps relieve stress, burn weight, and distracts you from crying.
7. Change your environment.
8. See a professional (a physician or a therapist, depending on what could have triggered the crying).

Better Ways to Burn Weight Other Than Crying

Crying incessantly will not help you lose weight, and if you are grieving, crying is not what primarily causes the weight loss you might experience. Therefore, if you want to shed calories to burn off some weight, there are better ways to achieve that.

Regular mild to moderate physical exercises can help burn excess calories if you want to effectively lose weight. Healthy weight loss involves a combination of regular exercise avoidance of oversized meals, and junk eating.

There are several activities you can engage in to effectively burn calories and lose weight. According to Harvard Health Publishing, you can effectively lose calories from everyday physical activities, as well as from specialized gym activities.

For example, a 125-pound individual can lose 19 calories from sleeping in 30 minutes, and 34 calories from reading/sitting for 30 minutes. Also, the same person can lose 90 calories from general weight-lifting for 30 minutes, and 120 calories from swimming for 30 minutes.

Other activities that can help you lose calories and burn off body weight include:

1. Aerobic exercises like cycling, jogging, and running.
2. Skipping or jumping rope.
3. Planks
4. Push-ups and pull-ups
5. Lunges
6. Squats
7. Dancing
8. Gymnastics
9. Jogging, etc

Conclusion

Crying is a physiological that oftentimes involves some energy expenditure, and thus, burns calories. However, the amount of calories crying burns is not enough to cause significant weight loss. Therefore, putting on a sad movie or thinking about depressing experiences will not replace your regular exercise, research says.

Crying may have some important benefits like cleaning up your eyes, relieving stress, and improving your mood. However, crying as a result of grief, loss, or depression for a time longer than expected might mean you are having problems moving on from the incident. Seek help from an appropriate professional or mental health physician for possible treatments and therapy that might help.