Many people feel better after letting off steam with a freeing cry. This phenomenon would find explanation in the chemical composition of tears of emotional origin, different from the basal ones that moisten the eyes, even if they come from the same glands.
The tears shed in response to a stimulation of the emotional sphere, in fact, contain more proteins, hormones produced in response to stress (corticotropin and prolactin) and manganese (found in high concentrations in the brains of people suffering from depression).
In emotional tears, moreover, traces of an endorphine produced by the brain, called Leu-enkephalin, have been found which relieves pain and manages to release the anxieties and accumulated tensions.
