Crying Over A Breakup Can Result In Weight Loss, According to Science

The average person cries about 16.5 gallons of tears during their lifetime, according to scientists. It seems, however, that people prefer to bottle up their emotions and are sometimes even ashamed of them. Yet, what if we were to tell you that emotional crying is another way to prevent you from gaining extra weight? We think this fact is enough to help us to find the right exit for the gallons of tears which are buried deep inside our hearts.

Some of you might not believe that you can lose weight by letting your emotions out. Too many of us have been through this situation, and we know that it is a vicious circle: you stress out, then eat more, and after some days realize your favorite pair of jeans are too tight. So, how could we even expect weight loss in this situation? It is ridiculous!

It appears that we do not fully understand the point. It is true that cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress, is connected to obesity.

Many of us know this hormone helps us fight anything that is nerve-racking or stressful. The problem is that nowadays people do not physically fight for survival, yet prefer to sit and stew in their anger and frustration. Therefore, our body thinks that we have used some calories to deal with our stressors and that we need to replenish them.

Eyes Of Brain (@eyesofbrain) on Feb 15, 2019 at 3:46pm PST

Meanwhile, scientists have discovered that emotional tears contain hormones that increase the cortisol level. They're prolactin, leu-enkephalin, and adrenocorticotropin (also called ACTH). All of those are produced when we are under a lot of pressure.

Alessio Albi (@alessioalbi) on Apr 6, 2017 at 9:59am PDT

So when we do not suppress our emotions, and physically cry, those hormones are released, and our cortisol level reduces. Our body, therefore, gets the signal that we do not have to retain fat since the stressful situation is over now.

Now you see the vicious circle is only vicious because we do not know how to make our cortisol levels lower. That is why we tend to eat our feelings and gain more weight instead. Thanks to science, we’ve discovered the secret of losing weight under challenging situations. It all depends on where the stress hormones are in the end — inside or outside of our body.

Camihawke (@camihawke) on Sep 20, 2017 at 6:17am PDT

If you're a good performer and can squeeze out a tear or hope to cry while cutting an onion, this will not have any benefits. Only tears caused by real feelings contain the necessary hormones.

Scientists add that the best time to cry emotional tears out is from about 7-10 p.m. This is the time when people are most likely to be with the ones they love or watching a film that can make them weep.

Alessio Albi (@alessioalbi) on Apr 26, 2017 at 8:49am PDT

Therefore, if your relationship is over or if you are going through any other hard times, try to let it all out. A good crying session is the most efficient method to calm our mind and make a fresh start with your dream body.

Preview photo credit selenagomez / Instagram