Toxic tears: how crying keeps you healthy

I've long believed that crying is good for you. It's interesting how people react to a person who cries... they tend to freak out, as if it is of utmost importance to make the crying stop. We are socialized to be uncomfortable with crying, that's for sure. Here's a great article that suggests that humans cry for a reason:

Humans are the only animals who shed tears of emotion. Why do we cry? Are there any physical or health benefits from crying?

"Until the Industrial Revolution, crying in public was pretty normal, even for men," says Tom Lutz, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at the University of Iowa and author of Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears. "Heroic epics from Greek times through the Middle Ages are soggy with weeping of all sorts," Dr. Lutz says. "Through most of history, tearlessness has not been the standard of manliness."

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