As poetic as they are sometimes contradictory, tears are one of the most powerful ways to show our most extreme feelings. However, there does not seem to be any scientific reason for the link between crying and the feelings of joy and sadness that they help us express, sometimes unintentionally. Perhaps in this mystery resides its beauty.
"It is a manifestation of how well done the human being is and how evolved we are," explains Elena Darrin, an ophthalmologist at the Rey Juan Carlos hospital and the Issue clinic in Madrid. "We have been going from reflexes and instincts to something so complex at the neuronal level and at the brain level as to serve to reflect our emotions."
Biologically speaking, there are three types of tears : basal, reflex, and emotional. The former are responsible for keeping our eyes clean and in perfect readiness to fulfill their task: to see. His presence is constant, although we never notice it.
Reflex tears are those that arise as a reaction to some external component, such as those we shed when peeling an onion. Finally, emotional tears are those related to our feelings. While the first two have a physiological explanation, the latter are still a mystery today, both in terms of their origin and their function.
The first mention of tears dates from the fourteenth century BC.
Where there is no doubt is the age of its use to express emotions. As explained by Michael Trimble in Why humans like to cry why humans like to mourn, the first mention of tears dates from the fourteenth century BC, in some tablets that record of tears at the news of the death of the god Baal at the hands of his sister and lover Ana. Also, Egyptian mythology and the Greek and Roman collect this link between tears and emotions. A union that, on the other hand, is particular to human beings. That does not mean that the animals do not feel, but do not express their feelings through crying.
Crying with sorrow or joy makes us human, but that does not mean that we are born with this ability. It is, therefore, something learned , an invention of humans developed over the centuries to communicate with more force than any word the most regrettable feelings, as well as sometimes the happiest.
When do we learn to cry?
"We are not born with emotional crying, it develops over time," says Dr. Darrin. “We are born with basal crying, we are not born with reflex crying, but it develops in the first months of life. And over time is when the emotional develops ".
As she herself explains in her doctoral thesis, we are born with the quality of crying, probably because we are afraid. In our first months of life we use crying as an indicator that something is wrong, expressing hunger, pain or other reasons, and asking for help from adults. Crying emphasizes non-verbal communication in a completely helpless stage. It is a kind of acoustic umbilical cord essential in a period in which, unlike most animals, humans hardly enjoy autonomy and are completely dependent on adults. This first function of emotional crying develops in two different stages with age. It's a more solidarity and a more mature cry. " Tears of joy are another mystery associated with crying because of their seemingly inconsistent connection to sadness. But wine guru psychologist Ad Vingerhoets states that these tears come from memories of bad times before reaching the moment of happiness when they begin to cry.
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