Why are people shed tears when crying?

Believe it or not humans are the only creatures who cry without so called "reason." What I mean by "reason" is that we cry for emotion and not just to clean our eyes. When animals shed tears its to moisten their eyes or clean them out because they have dirt in them. The same is for humans but we have more reason to cry besides it being to help the body get rid of toxins. As far as I know there is now medical reason as why we cry for emotions we feel. It's just one of those things that can't be explained.

From what I know, it's the way that our bodies function. I always figured that this was the reason why we shed tears when we cry. I don't understand the whole process, but I just figured that it was the way our biology functions.

this too bothers me at times.. when we are emotional we cry and well we cannot even control our emotions right? =)

I don't know how to explain why we shed tears when crying but I got a problem when it comes to shedding tears. Even if I don't want to cry whenever I watch a crying scene on tv I shed a tear. If there is something good that I've done to someone or I have said good words that I know they will like, I also shed tears. Does anyone know why?

According to my knowledge. All our organs have nerve cells that are always connected to the heart and brain. While our hearts have a deep sense reflexes can work and will be forwarded on to the brain which will coordinate the further effect. Example if any part of our body which were injured, then our hearts will respond with automatic swcara pain. The wound will cause feelings of ill superfluous. In fact we will cry because of it. Logically, the mucous membranes of the eyes we connect with our hearts. If we feel an excessive feeling it will automatically shed tears. Whether feeling ill, sad, happy etc. .superabundant

My elementary school teacher said before, the function of organs tears remedy imaginable wash the eyes. So the term, when we are shedding tears, it means we wash center in our eyes. Then why do we cry when sad, I think, that's just a reflex.

tears is a language of our heart, it is a way of expressing our hearts emotion when we fail to express it.

Everyone had made interesting points on the emotional aspect of crying. I'd like to add something to the dicussion on a scientific aspect. First of all, a part of the eye called the cornea has no blood supply. In the inner aspect of the lower lid are the tear ducts and through here, the tears pass and nourishes the cornea. Aside from nourishment, tears also protect the cornea from irritation. For example, it is important to care for the eyes of comatose patients. Because they are unconscious, their eyes are usually half-open. The eyes get dried out and it would be easily irritated and may even have abrasions. It is important to administer artificial tears to coma patients to prevent that. I hope others can also add inputs on the scientific aspect. This is a nice topic. Take care and have a nice day!

Tears are the ody's way of cleansing. Shedding tears when we cry is just a normal response. It doesn't always mean we are sad. We can cry at happy times too.

May be usually we are seeing tears when people are crying, did you see a person cry or fell his/her tears when laughing. I saw person fell tears when laughing, meaning tears are design to fell from you emotion. see you around

There is scientific basis for that for sure. But I think it is the brain's instruction to our body, to cry. You see when we are sad or totally upset crying is an automatic response by the body to our emotion. And when we cry, as tears fall from the two tiny openings in our eyes called the lacrimal duct, we feel a bit eased from the pain. Try to control crying, what do we feel? We feel like we are going to be sick or we may faint or worse, some feel more furious about the things that upset them. God is so good that He designed our body to respond perfectly to our emotions.

crying is a natural thing. about the scientific explanation is quite difficult be explained but one thing that i do understand if a cry without tear the sadness is very deep.

Crying with humans is a response to an emotional state. There is a neuron in the brain that triggers this response in us. And its actually contested as to if other animals 'cry' in response to emotional states. The tears that we produce when crying actually have a different chemical composition than our normal tears including higher levels of hormones. There are several theories on the functionality of crying. Ranging from simple ones such as a response to pain, to more complex ones such as nonverbal communication to enlist the help of others. There is also another theory about crying that states that crying is the humans way to release stress hormones when the levels get too high. Think of it as the emergency release valve on a hot water heater. Too much pressure and the release valve triggers. This theory applies that to our crying seeing as too much pressure (Stress) and the release valves trigger (We cry to release the stress hormone). This was because of the belief that one feels better after crying. Though I personally feel like crap for crying. To each his own I suppose. Hope this helped!