Are happy tears different from sad tears?

I couldn’t get this question out of my head, this is so fascinating! I asked my friends about it, but I don’t have any. So I went online and did my research. Here’s what I found.

Happy tears and sad tears both belong to the same type called emotional or psychic tears. They are produced as a response to an intense emotional arousal and help you return to your normal baseline level of functioning.

Our body produces different types of tears and they all play important role in our well-being. Turns out, producing tears or what we call crying, is extremely important, and good for you. But there are many reasons behind why we shed tears.

I did my best to organize all the information I dug up on the topic in a concise and easy to digest way, so you can just skim it through and quickly get your answers. I hope it will save you time, and you find it fascinating as I did. Here we go.

What’s the purpose of tears?

The main purpose of tears is to ensure that our eyes stay clean , moisturized and maintain vision.

Tears are produced by lacrimal glands located above each of your eyes.

There are three types of tears:

Emotional
Basal
Reflex

Emotional Tears

They are also called psychic tears. Or as what we call crying.

As I mentioned earlier that’s what happy and sad tears are.

You can get overwhelmed with intense emotions and crying helps your body to return to your normal state of functioning. People cry over different reasons.

Usually it’s not the specific emotion that triggers the cryings, it’s the intensity of that said emotion. And that’s different for everyone.

Personally, I’m more likely to cry when some underdog team wins a championship rather than after watching a sad movie. Sad but true.

Also, I think it’s important to mention that when you cry, it’s your way of getting rid of stress hormones. Hence, often you feel a quick relief shortly after.

This is why sometimes after you cry, you feel so much better. And you might have heard many times the advice that if you feel like crying, don’t hold back. Let it go. It will make you feel better. Well, they are not wrong!

Wide range of human emotions can trigger this type of tears. And it affects every person differently. That’s why some people cry after watching a sad movie, and others don’t feel nothing.

Or, on the contrary, your team wins the Super Bowl , but your girlfriend looks at you like crazy, when you start weeping out of nowhere:) To each, their own.

Emotional tears help to regulate our mood as quickly as possible, and make us feel better. The benefits of crying are real.

Basal Tears

Is the most general type of tears—these are your protectors. Like your best friend, they are there for you.

As a part of your immune system, they are responsible for keeping your eyes healthy by fighting bacterial infections, and hence maintaining your vision.

They keep your eyes lubricated by continuously secreting a small amount of tears.

Reflex Tears

Who’s cutting onions? Ah, yes, this is one of those. I hate it. I run to the nearest window and stick my head outside trying to grasp some fresh air pathetically hoping for it to stop.

From all types of tears, personally this one makes me weep like crazy.

And as I did my research I found out that this type of tears indeed produces the biggest amount of the three. It made me feel a bit better about myself.

But onions as you know from personal experience are not the only thing that can make you cry.

Gas or smoke
Bright lights
Strong perfumes
Wind
Strong Fragrances
Reading small text
Prolonged computer-screen exposure
A “sniff” of black pepper

I was recently reminded that eating spicy food can do the trick just fine.

Reflex tears often appear as a result of your eyes getting irritated, hence they’re also called—irritant tears.