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<\/p>\nHad a good cry recently? Crying is a natural reaction to experiencing intense emotion.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s often associated with feelings of sadness, but you may also shed tears when you\u2019re overwhelmed with joy or gratitude, experiencing pain, or having a hearty laugh.<\/p>\n
Whatever the reason, can crying burn calories?<\/p>\n
The short answer is yes.<\/p>\n
Crying does burn calories \u2014 although the impact is so slight, you\u2019d burn more calories by\u00a0doing a few jumping jacks\u00a0or walking up a flight of stairs than by bawling your eyes out.<\/p>\n
Still, any activity that raises your heart rate \u2014 yes, even crying \u2014\u00a0will indeed expend calories.<\/p>\n
There are very few studies on the calorie burn of crying, but there is a\u00a0study on laughing\u00a0that can offer some insight.<\/p>\n
According to the study, laughing increased the metabolism by 0.79 kilojoules per minute \u2014 or just under 0.2 calories per minute, explains Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, an obesity medicine-certified physician and founder of the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center in Scottsdale, Arizona.<\/p>\n
That means that a five-minute laugh session would burn one additional calorie. This is speculated to be similar to the calorie burn of crying.<\/p>\n
Turning on the waterworks won\u2019t help you achieve noticeable weight loss, since it only burns 12 calories an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s hardly enough to promote weight loss,\u201d Ziltzer says. You\u2019ll burn more calories by simply\u00a0sitting on a Zoom call for work.<\/p>\n
In fact, if you\u2019re regularly stressed to the point of tears, that could actually contribute to weight gain for several reasons, Ziltzer adds.<\/p>\n
Stress triggers the production of cortisol, which has been linked to an increase in\u00a0abdominal fat storage, Ziltzer says.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re stressed, we also tend to\u00a0sleep poorly, and we may have\u00a0reduced willpower\u00a0to resist tempting treats. Stress may also cause us to\u00a0self-soothe with food.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: No one should aim to shed pounds by shedding tears.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While some animals demonstrate vocal noises when in distress, the production of tears when crying is a uniquely human trait.<\/p>\n
Research on crying is surprisingly limited, but it\u2019s believed that \u201ctearful crying facilitates social connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humans typically cry at important moments in life, including both positive events (weddings, childbirth) and negative events (deaths, loss).<\/p>\n
But we also may cry at relatively ordinary situations like arguments, minor frustrations, movies, and commercials.<\/p>\n
Crying isn\u2019t necessarily bad and can even offer us some benefits. Research suggests\u00a0extended crying may lead to a release of oxytocin, a stress-relieving hormone.<\/p>\n
And in\u00a0a 2008 study, psychologists analyzed 3,000 crying experiences and found that the majority of individuals reported that their mood was improved after a good sobfest.<\/p>\n
Those who received support from others while crying were more likely to see mood improvements afterwards.<\/p>\n
It depends. While crying itself is not problematic, it\u2019s important to consider the root cause.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re binge-watching\u00a0Grey\u2019s Anatomy, by all means, cry away. If stress is to blame, practicing some\u00a0stress management techniques\u00a0may help to calm your mind (and your tear ducts).<\/p>\n
If you find yourself regularly shedding tears due to sadness, or you\u2019ve been crying more than usual recently, that could potentially be a\u00a0sign of depression\u00a0or anxiety, and you may want to reach out to your doctor or a mental health professional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Had a good cry recently? Crying is a natural reaction to experiencing intense emotion. It\u2019s often associated with feelings of sadness, but you may also shed tears when you\u2019re overwhelmed with joy or gratitude, experiencing pain, or having a hearty laugh. Whatever the reason, can crying burn calories? The short answer is yes. Crying does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3992,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3990\/revisions\/3992"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}