Psychic Tears Contain Natural Painkiller

We have three types of tears: basal, reflex, and psychic. Psychic tears, the ones we produce when we are sad, have a different chemical makeup than the other two and contain a natural painkiller, leucine enkephalin, which is perhaps why we feel better after we cry. Researchers who compared emotional tears with basic lubricating and reflex tears found higher levels of stress-related chemicals and leucine enkephalin in psychic tears, suggesting that when strong feelings trigger the lacrimal system, your body literally washes stress hormones out of your eyes while dosing your nervous system with its own pain relief.

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