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Why do we form tears when we are sad?
i mean, i know there are nervous in our face that when messed with can cause our eyes to water (i heard that from people who get facial piercings) and i know that when you get something in your eye they water to get it out. but why do we tear up when we are sad? just curious..
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You cry two different types of tears. One is the reflex tears like when you cut onions or manage to smack your hammer into your pinkie. The other is emotional tears, like how you cried at the end of Lord of the Rings when everyone has to break up. (Maybe that last part is just me.)
The tear duct nervous system is actually really intense, with nerves going right into the cerebrum where your sorrow and pain centers are. So when you're watching Titantic and Jack dies, you feel sad. That sadness is recognized in your cerebrum which tells your endocrine system (tears have hormones in them) to start making tears.
Interestingly enough the cerebrum also controls speech. So some scientists who have studied tears have theorized that when our early ancestors died, and were burned at pyres, the reflex tears (from the smoke) combined with the emotional sadness sort of trained ourselves to start crying when we feel emotionally overwhelmed.
This could also explain why many more woman cry when they're on their period and emotionally mood-swingy. At least, that's going to be my excuse from now on. "Evolution, honey."
Take care!
Jaelle
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