A Brief Look Into the Secret Power of Our Tears

During the fall semester of a university I attended back in 2017 the subject of tears came up in biology class.

“There are three types of tears,” My professor briefly pointed out.

This came as a surprise to me. I was curious, so I couldn’t help but do a bit of research…

And it turns out all our salty face juice is a lot more useful than I had previously thought!

The Science of Tears

What my research showed me about our tearfs can be put simply; they’re pretty damn interesting and pretty damn cool.

The first kind of tear, called the basal tear, keeps the human eye clean and dust free. The second type, called the reflex tear, washes out and preserve the eye from extreme irritants.

The utility these two types posses is undoubtedly amazing, but it the qualities of the third type that really got my attention.

The Third Tear

It’s called the “psychic tear”, or the emotional tear, and it seems to provide actual relief from emotional stress.

In more sciency terms, it’s particularly special because it contains proteins and hormones that the other tear types don’t, and these little organic compounds have a range of effects.

Research has shown that natural pain-killers and stress reducers such as prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and Leu-enkephalin are present in psychic tears.

Other research has indicated that the third tear also functions as a way to actually release buildup of toxic stress hormones hence stabilizing our future mood.

Tears in a Bottle

As human beings, our biology has prepared us to survive not only physical stress but emotional stress as well.

At the time of my brief research on the topic of tears I was attending a christian school, so I couldn’t help but notice the symbolic significance of tears as mentioned in the bible.

I thought of the famous verse in Psalm 56, in which David prays, “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”

Whether you believe in god or not, this verse appears to carry some profound meaning.

Here David seems to be trusting, in the middle of his suffering, that his emotional, frustrated tears are not pointless or in vain. He’s trying to trust in the creator of the universe as well as confirm in his own mind that there must be a reason for his tears.

In this story, and in life, your suffering carries value — so much value, in fact, that god himself reaches down to catch every tear you cry before it hits the ground. And if you don’t believe in god, that doesn’t mean the principles in the bible aren’t useful or true in a profound way.

Jesus (the perfect man, symbolically) himself is described in the bible as being a man of sorrows, and where I grew up everyone knew the shortest verse in the bible: “Jesus wept.”

Our stress driven, apparently unhelpful tears aren’t pointless at all. They say something about us as humans. They mean something. The science is there. They help us survive life.

Don’t Be Afraid to Be Sad

The human capacity for survival transcends the physical world around us. So don’t be afraid of emotional stress! You are the ultimate survivor!

In our deepest distress we can depend on our own biology to help us through difficult times, as well as encounter and opportunity to do some of the deepest kinds of soul searching.

Don’t feel dumb, or embarrassed. Your sadness is not stupid! Or meaningless!

And if this hard life leaves you in tears, don’t be afraid to let them fall, because god himself may reach down to catch them.

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