BEFORE READING 1. In your group, make a list of situations in which you or someone you know cried. Share your list with the class. 2, Freewrite for ten minutes about how people react to crying in your native culture. Is it acceptable to cry? Are there some situations in which it is more acceptable to cry than others? Share your writing with your group. It’s O.K. to Cry Tears Are Not Just a Bid for Attention Jane Brody Jane Brody has been the “Personal Health” columnist for the New York Times since 1965. She has written many books on nutrition, good food, and health, as well as several cookbooks. The article below appeared in. the New York Times. Crying is hardly an activity encouraged by society. Tears, be they of sor- row, anger of joy, typically make Americans feel uncomfortable and embar- rassed. Edmund S. Muskie may well have lost his bid for the 1972 Presiden- tial candidacy when he wept while denouncing a newspaper publisher for printing a letter that insulted his wife. ‘The shedder of tears is likely to apologize, even when a devastating trag- edy was the provocation. The observer of tears is likely to do everything possible to put an end to the emotional outpouring. But judging from recent studies of crying behavior, links between illness and crying and the chemical composition of tears, both those responses to tears are often inappropriate and may even be counterproductive. People are the only animals definitely known to shed emotional tears. Since evolution has given rise to few if any purposeless physiological re- sponses, it is logical to assume that crying has one or more functions that enhance survival. ‘Although some observers have suggested that crying is a way to elicit assistance from others (as a crying baby might from its mother), the shedding of tears is hardly necessary to get help. Vocal cries, whines or whimpers such a animals use would have been quite enough, more likely than tears to gain attention. So, it appears, there must be something special about tears them- selves.BECOMING/THE TRUE SELF Indeed, the new studies suggest that emotional cears may play a direct role in alleviating stress. University of Minnesota researchers who are study- ing the chemical composition of tears have recently isolated two important ‘chemicals, leucine-enkephalin and prolactin, from emotional tears. The first of these may be an endorphin, one of the body's natural pain-relieving sub- stances. Both chemicals are found only in tears that are shed in response to emo- tion. Tears shed because of exposure to a cut onion would contain no such substance. "researchers at several other institutions are investigating the use- fulness of tears as a means of diagnosing human ills and monitoring drugs. At Tulane University’s tear analysis laboratory Dr. Peter Kastl .. . and his colleagues report that they can use tears to detect drug abuse and expo- sure to medication, to determine whether a contact lens fits properly or why it may be uncomfortable, to study the causes of “dry eye” syndrome and the effects of eye surgery, and perhaps even to measure exposure to environmen- tal pollutants. ‘At Columbia University Dr. Linsy Farris and colleagues are studying tears for clues to the diagnosis of diseases away from the eyes. Tears can be obtained painlessly without invading the body and only tiny amounts are needed to perform highly refined analyses. Tears are produced continuously by the tiny lacrimal glands in the upper, ‘outer comers of the eyes, under the lids. Every time you blink (on average 13 times a minute) your eyelids carry a film of tears across the corneas. . . The windshield-wiper effect of the blink also helps to cleanse the eyes of debris and irritating chemicals and perhaps even to fight infection, since tears contain antibacterial enzymes. Tears that do not evaporate leave through the lacrimal canal and sac at the inner corner of the eye. From there they drain through the nose, which is why you usually have to blow your nose when you cry. Tears shed down the face represent an overflow of the lacrimal ducts, as might happen to gut- tets during a downpour. Crying behavior and sounds may also be useful in diagnosing abnormali- ties in infants. Two California researchers found that ailing babies typically have high-pitched, shrill cries. Crying also seems to serve as a means of communication for babies be- fore they learn to talk; Mothers soon learn to distinguish between cries of pain, fear and hunger, and those of crankiness. . . ‘As for adults, Dr. Frey’s studies of more than 200 men and women who kept “crying diaries” for a month found that 85 percent of the women and 73 percent of the men said they felt better after crying. On average, the participants reported a 40 percent reduction in stress after crying. Despite this reported relief, men do not cry often—only one-fifth as of- ES cane DE seni Oee ie i naeen rT 125126 CHANGES: READINGS FOR WRITERS women, shed no emotional tears during the monthlong study. Furthermore, when men do cry they often fail to shed tears; the tears well up in their eyes but do not spill over. Dr. Frey suggests that the holding back of tears may be a reason why men develop more stress-related diseases than women do. Dr. Margaret Crepeau of the Marquette University College of Nursing found that people with stress-related disorders—for example, ulcers and colitis—were more likely than healthy people to view crying as a sign of weakness or loss of control. The ill people also reported that they cried less often. .. Ifthe theory that tears relieve stress is correct, how does one account for tears of joy? Traditional explanations are that crying at graduations, wed- dings and happy endings really reflects unhappy feelings, such as the “loss” of a child to a new spouse or anxiety about the child’ future. However, a more likely reason is simply that tears of joy are a response to intense emo- tion, which is stressful whether the feeling is sad or happy. In any event Dr. Frey believes the evidence gathered is sufliciently con- vincing to warrant a change in attitude toward crying. It's time, he says, for adults to stop telling children things like “Now, now, don't cry” and "Big boys don’t cry.” Crying is a natural phenomenon and the withholding of tears appears to be a danger to health.