Does crying make you lose weight?
A natural and healthy emotional reaction to a variety of stimuli, such as sadness, annoyance, and delight, is crying. Some individuals, however, think that sobbing can actually aid in calorie burning. We’ll look at the supporting data for this assertion in this article to see if crying actually aids weight loss.
What is crying?
Humans’ natural and healthy emotional reaction to a variety of events is crying. A variety of emotions, including despair, love, pain, or even laughing, might set it off. As we cry, our bodies produce tears that are loaded with hormones and other substances. Our bodies naturally relieve stress and anxiety through these tears.
Why crying can lead to weight loss
It is well known that crying causes the body to release stress chemicals like cortisol. These hormones can cause an increase in hunger and fat accumulation and are frequently linked to weight gain. These chemicals are released from our bodies when we weep, which can aid in weight loss by lowering stress levels.
Also, weeping might lessen emotional eating and make us feel better. When we eat in response to emotions like stress or sadness, it is called “emotional eating,” and it frequently results in overeating and weight gain. Crying can help us maintain a balanced diet and help us lose weight by decreasing our emotional eating.
How Many Calories Do You Burn While Crying?
The number of calories you burn while crying varies depending on your body weight, how hard you cry, and how long the crying session lasts. Dr. Aaron Neufeld of the Los Altos Optometric Group conducted a study that found that crying might burn anywhere between 0.5 and 1.3 calories per minute. This implies that a 20-minute sobbing session may result in the burning of between 10 and 26 calories.
It’s crucial to understand that crying is not a replacement for physical activity or a balanced diet. While sobbing may result in a little increase in calorie expenditure, it is unlikely to result in a major reduction in weight.
Why do people think crying burns calories?
The fact that sobbing is a physically and emotionally demanding activity may be the foundation of the notion that crying might aid in calorie burning. Your breathing and heart rate may speed up when you weep, which could result in you burning more calories than when you’re at rest. Furthermore, crying may cause the production of stress hormones like cortisol, which may speed up metabolism and result in weight loss.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that the evidence supporting these claims is primarily anecdotal, and further studies are required to discover whether weeping actually aids in weight loss.
The Science Behind Crying and Weight Loss
A study that appeared in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that emotional tears have a higher concentration of stress chemicals than tears brought on by irritants like onions. This indicates that crying can aid in lowering your body’s cortisol levels, which are linked to stress and weight gain.
Crying can also improve your mood and endorphin levels, which are the “feel-good” hormones that support relaxation and reduce stress. This may result in less emotional eating overall and a more well-rounded diet.
Crying can also assist in controlling body temperature, which can increase metabolism and help you burn more calories throughout the day.
How to use crying for weight loss
While crying may help you lose weight, it’s important to understand that it cannot take the place of a balanced diet and regular exercise. Crying, though, can be a useful element in your weight loss strategy.
Conscious sobbing is one technique for using tears to lose weight. Conscious sobbing entails allowing yourself to cry without holding it against yourself. You’ll be able to relieve tension and boost your mood, which will help you avoid emotional eating and help you lose weight.
Crying can also assist in controlling body temperature, which can increase metabolism and help you burn more calories throughout the day.
The Practice: How Can You Use Crying and Emotional Release to Manage Your Weight?
While crying by itself won’t make you lose weight, it can be a helpful tool for managing your emotions and weight in a healthy and long-term way. Here are some helpful suggestions you might use:
- Acknowledge and accept your emotions: Let yourself feel your feelings and express them in a healthy and acceptable way rather than repressing or rejecting them. This can assist you in avoiding emotional eating and identifying better coping mechanisms.
- Practice mindful crying: Take a moment to breathe deeply, close your eyes, and concentrate on your sentiments and sensations whenever you feel the desire to cry. This can assist you in connecting with your feelings and letting them out in a more focused and deliberate manner.
- Seek social support: Connect with people who can listen and provide empathy and affirmation, such as friends, family, or a therapist. You may feel less isolated and more connected as a result, which may lessen the need for emotional eating and enhance your general wellbeing.
- Practice self-care: Get the rest you need, eat healthily, exercise frequently, and engage in relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, or massage to take care of your physical and emotional requirements. You can do this to lessen stress and support a healthy weight and way of life.
- Consider professional help: See a licenced dietitian, a mental health therapist, or an eating disorder expert for support if you battle with emotional eating, binge eating, or other eating disorders. They can offer you specialised guidance and assistance in managing your weight and your emotions.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Crying for Weight Loss
While crying might not be a good way to lose weight, it might be good for your general health and wellbeing. You can relieve stress and let out pent-up emotions, for instance, by crying. According to the American Psychological Association, crying can make you feel better by producing endorphins, which are organic painkillers and mood enhancers.
On the other hand, sobbing uncontrollably too often might be harmful to your health. Dehydration brought on by continuous crying can result in weariness, headaches, and other symptoms. Furthermore, crying too frequently might make you emotionally desensitised, which can result in feelings of emotional numbness or detachment.
Other Benefits of Crying
Although crying is a normal emotional response and may not magically help you lose weight, it does have many other advantages. Your mood can be lifted, your relationships with others strengthened, and stress can be relieved by crying. Crying can also help you control your emotions and lessen negative emotions like sadness or worry.
What Else Can You Do to Burn Calories?
There are numerous alternatives to weeping that you can attempt if you want to burn calories and lose weight. Maintaining a healthy weight requires a good diet, consistent exercise, and effective stress management. You can also achieve your weight loss objectives by consuming lots of water, getting enough sleep, and cutting back on processed meals and sugar-sweetened beverages.
Tips for Crying Healthily
There are a few things to consider if you want to include crying in your weight reduction program. First and foremost, it’s crucial to give yourself permission to experience and express emotions in a safe and healthy way. This could entail talking to friends and family for support, meditating and being attentive, or going to counselling.
Also, it’s critical to maintain fluids because sobbing might dehydrate you. In order to prevent any unfavourable effects of crying, be sure to drink lots of water and replace electrolytes.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that while sobbing could help you burn a few more calories, it can’t take the place of a balanced diet and regular exercise. It’s critical to concentrate on a holistic strategy that incorporates a balanced diet, regular physical activity, and efficient stress management skills if you’re trying to shed some pounds and enhance your general health. Even though crying may have some psychological advantages, it is unlikely that crying alone will result in significant weight loss.
FAQ’s
Q: Does crying make you fat?
No, sobbing won’t make you gain weight. Changes in food and exercise habits are frequently the cause of weight gain or loss.
Q: Does crying make you lose face weight?
Crying by itself does not result in noticeable weight loss in any one body part, including the face.
Q: Does crying make you prettier?
The idea that crying makes a person attractive is unsupported by scientific research. Beauty is a relative concept that depends on numerous variables.
Q: Can crying kill you?
No, sobbing won’t make you die. Yet, prolonged or excessive sobbing can have a harmful impact on both mental and physical health.
Q: Does crying make you lose water weight?
Because of increased fluid excretion from the body while crying, there may be a momentary loss of water weight, but this loss is often small and transient.
Q: Does crying help your skin?
Because of increased water production, crying may momentarily improve skin hydration, but these advantages are minimal and insufficient to create a detectable impact.
Q: Does crying make you lose your appetite?
Due to emotional distress, crying can occasionally affect appetite, but this effect is typically transient and may not always be significant.
Q: Does crying cause weight loss in babies?
Baby weight loss is not brought on by crying alone. Yet, a baby’s weight loss could be influenced by untreated medical conditions or frequent crying.
Q: Does crying make you prettier?
The idea that crying makes a person attractive is unsupported by scientific research. Beauty is a relative concept that depends on numerous variables.
Q: Can crying help you lose weight?
No, sobbing has no discernible effect on weight loss.
Q: How long do you have to cry to lose weight?
No, sobbing has no discernible effect on weight loss.
Q: I ate quite a lot today, and I want to cry because I’m trying to lose weight and I should be eating a lot less because I’m a pig. What do I do?
First of all, it is unhealthy to refer to yourself as a “pig” or to associate your value with your dietary preferences. Second, it is not advised to restrict your food intake in an unhealthy way or use tears as a coping mechanism for unpleasant feelings. Instead, attempt to concentrate on improving your diet in a lasting way while getting assistance from a trained healthcare provider or a licenced dietitian.
Q: How much weight do you lose when you cry?
Crying does not result in significant weight loss, and any loss that may happen is probably due to fluid loss rather than fat loss.
References:
- Neufeld, A. (2015). How many calories does crying burn? Los Altos Optometric Group. Retrieved from https://www.losaltoseyes.com/how-many-calories-does-crying-burn/
- Harvard Health Publishing. (2021). Calories burned in 30 minutes for people of three different weights. Harvard Medical School. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories-burned-in-30-minutes-of-leisure-and-routine-activities
- American Psychological Association. (2019). The healthy ups and downs of crying. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/01/ce-corner-crying
- Mayo Clinic. (2021). Stress management. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/basics/stress-basics/hlv-20049495
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Healthy weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/index.html
