Crying when sad or happy—what's the difference?

Hi Hive Lovers

You have certainly met someone or even experienced it yourself: when someone feels happy, they also cry or shed tears. It turns out that crying doesn't only happen when someone is feeling sad.

Why can sad and happy reactions or expressions be the same as crying?

Perhaps there have been many scientific studies that discuss this. But what is clear is that people who see other people crying will find it difficult to distinguish between sad tears and happy tears.

It would be difficult to tell the two apart because they both show the same expressions and reactions, even though sadness and happiness are, in principle, two opposite emotions.

Sadness is a negative emotion, while happiness is a positive emotion, but both are reacted to and expressed in the same way; both "cry".

Crying is a form of expression of emotion or a response to emotional stress or overflow. Sadness and happiness are part of the pressure as well as the overflow of emotions. When there is pressure and emotional overflow, the body needs to balance it so that it becomes stable again by expressing it. And one way to express it is to cry. The human brain and body need to do that to maintain emotional balance so that it becomes stable again.

How do you distinguish between sad and happy tears?

The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is by:

1. Seeing the expression of someone when they are crying
   How should I explain it, huh? What is clear is that the expression of someone who cries when they are sad is very different from the expression of someone crying because of happiness. Those who cry because they are sad look depressed and burdened, while those who cry because they are happy look carefree and carefree.
2. Knowing the reason someone cries
   You can only tell someone who is crying because you are sad or happy if you observe the events just before someone cries, and that way, you will know the reason someone is crying. When a couple is having a fight or is expecting their baby, it will be easy to tell why someone is crying, whether they are sad or happy.
3. Feeling their tears
   This third way is not commonly done and is not even realized. Try to feel the tears rolling down your cheeks. If your tears feel warm, then they are tears that are released to express sadness. But if your tears feel colder, then they are tears that come out because of happy expressions.

Apart from being sad or happy, crying can also be caused by other emotional changes, for example, feeling sick, feeling disappointed, feeling angry, feeling empathy and sympathy, and so on.

Don't hesitate to cry, because it is for your emotional stability. If you are embarrassed to be witnessed by people, then do it in a quiet place.

It's okay to cry.

Thanks to canva.comfor the easy photo editing.

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