Cry It Out: Staffer Lily Simmons’ opinion on why we need to cry more

I want you to cry.

Not because I want you to be unhappy, but because you need to.

In this day and age, we’re more stressed than ever. Depression and anxiety numbers have tripled since 2020, according to The Lancet Regional Health journal. Crying — our natural way of releasing stress, pain and anxiety — is seen as a weakness. But it shouldn’t be.

Crying is one of our most primal instincts. Babies cry to express their needs and feelings. But why, as mature humans, do we have such a hard time doing what we mastered as infants?
We tell our kids to “man up” and stop being a “crybaby” when they get emotional. This teaches them to bottle up their feelings, which causes problems that can manifest physically, mentally and even socially

According to Harvard Health, studies have linked repressive coping – bottling up or hiding emotions to cope – with a weaker immune system, heart disease and high blood pressure, as well as stress, anxiety and depression. Crying has also been shown to increase social closeness, empathy and support from friends and family.

Crying cleanses the emotional body. According to a 2014 study done by Frontiers In Psychology, crying activates the parasympathetic nervous system, a system of nerves that relaxes the body after stress or danger. This can provide mental clarity and a sense of calm. Shedding emotional tears releases oxytocin and endorphins — the brain’s happy chemicals.

I’m a big crier, so I feel these effects. Just on Monday night, I had a big sob fest over an issue that I’d gotten way too worked up about. After I finished crying, my frustration had melted away and I was granted mental clarity. Turns out that the solution to my problem was right in front of me, but I was too blinded by stress and anxiety to realize how simple it was.

Here’s the thing: I wasn’t actually upset about that issue, but I had so much built up stress that one little thing tipped my bucket. My body gave me the emotional purge I needed.

Without allowing ourselves to release, we may show physical and mental manifestations of stress, which could include overeating, undereating, anger, irritability, too much sleep, too little sleep, isolation, unmotivation, physical fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, weight gain and weight loss. The list goes on and on.

By affecting PH level, built up stress makes it harder for your skin to regulate and stay balanced, according to healthline.com, which explains why you might notice a breakout during finals week or after an intense argument.

As life and school start picking up speed, and college and school work are looming over, I encourage you to give yourself grace. You’re only human, cry it out.