WEBVTT - Cry Me a River 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:14.159 Works dot Com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:16.840 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:21.160 today we're talking about something very universal. Um, it's everywhere 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.520 in time and space. It leaks out of your face, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:30.280 even an intentional r there. Yeah, it is a shared 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:35.880 emotional experience. Tears, it turns out, have quite a past, 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:41.520 as we'll discuss, and the earliest written record of tears 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.239 is found on cannonite clay tablets dating from the fourteenth 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.720 century BC. Now, one of the fragments tells the story 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:52.159 of the virgin goddess and not the sister of Ball 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:54.920 the earth god, and when she hears the news of 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.160 her brother's death to tell it says that she sated 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:03.880 herself with weeping to drink tears like wine. And it's 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.400 interesting that this first record that we have, or uh, 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:13.399 this first written record of it, is detailing tears of grief. Yeah, 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.280 because that's that's the thing about about tears. They're obviously 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:21.280 various types of tears. They're various connotations for weeping. I mean, 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.759 throughout human history we've seen good tears, bad tears, true tears, 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.280 false tears, manly tears. Um. I think it was Dennis 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.760 Leary that had a stand up bit about the only 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.200 time it's acceptable for a man to cry, and this 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.200 is like the nineties to date. It was gearing, a 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.880 sports movie in which the main character dies of some 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.520 sort of illness. Um, and only then then, and only 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.440 then is permissible. Only then is it permissible for Amanda 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.040 shed a tear, you know, other than being poked in 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.360 the eye or maced or something. Obviously. But but that's 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:53.920 the thing about tears, and that's one of the reasons 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.560 it makes for an interesting so of you to discuss here, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.320 is because there's the purely biological aspect of there's the 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.080 emotional aspect of it. And what happens when we try 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.440 and uh and untie all of this. Right, we're gonna 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.000 look at that today and uh, first we're gonna look 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.600 toward Papa Darwin. Um. Now, in his book The Expression 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:18.359 of Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin listed three 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.320 reasons for the secretion of tears. The first was pretty 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.760 much about lubricating eyes. The second, he thought, was to 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.519 keep the nostrils damp quote so that the inhaled air 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.360 may be moist and likewise to favor the power of smelling. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.680 And the third is to irrigate the eyes and flush 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:37.600 out small particles. Um. But it when it came to 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:42.440 actual emotional crying, Darwin was a bit flum mixed. He said, quote, 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.119 we must look at weeping as an incidental result, as 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.840 purposeless as the secretion of tears from a blow outside 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:54.560 the eye. Okay, you know, and UH can sort of 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.200 see where he's coming from there. He's approaching this from 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.000 a very biological standpoint and saying, all right, anything else 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.080 is just human garbage l haired over the basic machinery. Yeah, 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:05.960 it's kind of you know how Stephen Pinker will talk 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:10.000 about music as auditory cheesecake. It's almost like the tears 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:14.880 are the lachrymal cheesecake here cheesecake. Like yeah, and yeah, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.880 there is. There are reasons for it existing on an 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:23.760 emotional level, and there are some really good theories out there. However, 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:29.200 there are some really far flung, uh wild ones too. Indeed, 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.400 I like to think that that Darwin. You know, he 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.400 goes as far as his scientific background allowed him to 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.320 in analyzing tears, and then he stopped. He stopped at 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.080 the edge of that dark forest of the unknown. Others 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:45.000 were very willing to just run willy nilly into the 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.200 forest with their their torches of of science and coming 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.080 up with their own sort of you know, crazy theories. Uh. 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.200 Particularly here, I'm talking about aquatic ape hypothesis or it's 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.360 also known as aquatic eight theory, and this was first 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.920 proposed by German pathologist Max Vestenhoffer in nine two. And 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.680 the basic idea here uh, and I believe we discussed 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.040 this in our Mermaids episode of while back, is that 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:13.320 the evolutionary ancestors of modern humans adapted to a semi 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.920 aquatic existence at one point, so we took on various 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:20.200 aquatic features, and the theory holds we still see echoes 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.560 of those adaptations even in our modern form. Now, as 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.240 this relates to tears, the basic idea is that emotional 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.960 tears are seen only in humans and aquatic animals, and 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.560 they evolved as a system to excrete excess salt, because 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.680 again we're talking about aquatic ages living in a saltwater 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.720 environment according to this theory. So, uh, where this falls 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.560 apart and just you know, one key area here is 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.200 that while there is salt and human tears. There's not 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:53.120 enough to really uh make it a suitable primary excretory exercise. 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.279 The salt content is similar to blood plasma, so he 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.640 doesn't really shake out as as an example of oh 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.800 that's extra salt, leaving the so as interesting as the 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.320 aquatic eight theory as it doesn't really help us in 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:09.239 our understanding of the emotional side of tears. And adding 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.840 to all of this confusion is the cultural baggage that 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.680 tears carry, because in one era crying would have been 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.400 seen as pious or that kind of sensitivity. In another 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.640 era it would have looked like hysteria and weakness. And 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.919 I'll give you an example, um, or maybe even a 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.120 cultural example right now in which it's okay that male 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:36.280 crying that you had talked about related to sports. Boris Johnson, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.000 the Mayor of London, recalled his quote hot tears of 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:45.480 patriotic pride at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.400 and he also described the end of the games as 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:54.400 quote a tear sodden, juttering climax, which that carries a 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.520 lot of weight with it. Um. But on the opposite 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:01.760 end of the spectrum, if you look at psychiatric literature 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.800 of the late nineteenth century, public waterworks were really frowned upon. 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:12.120 In fact, it was referred to as emotional incontinent, So 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:17.840 basically peeing your face essentially like the the equivalent of 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.000 paying your pants in public. Is it's the same. Yeah yeah. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.960 Tom Dixon, writing h an article called on tears, actually 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.480 says that there's a Yiddish term that the translation of 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:34.040 crying is pissing out of your eyes. Yeah. Yeah. Moreover, 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:38.760 if you consult the Treatise of Melancholy, a six tome 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:43.360 written by English clergyman and physician Timothy Bright, you will 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.839 see him described tears as quote, a kind of excrement, 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:51.960 not much unlike urine. So the idea that's coming out 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.080 of this is that to crying in public is to 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.440 almost um yourself in public, and it's seen as a 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.880 weakness of vulnerability. Yeah, I mean, and we'll get into 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.280 some of that later, just the the the emotional um communication. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.200 You know, what are you saying to the world around 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.160 you when you weep? So yeah, it's it's interesting to 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.240 see those those various places where it's acceptable at the 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:22.040 various times it's acceptable, But at the heart we're dealing 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.240 with the tear. Do we just have one type of tier? 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:27.080 Do we have two? Do we have three? Is the 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.520 is the the stuff itself the same? Yeah, let's look 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.480 at the tier itself. We produce about ten ounces of 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.920 the stuff a day to help maintain our eyes. And 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.080 these tears fall into three different categories. So the first 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.120 is the basil tier. Now, this is a thin coating 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.840 of three layers that helped keep dirt out and debris 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.320 in check. And the first layer is the mucous layer, 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.800 which keeps the tears in place. The second is the 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.360 aqueous layer that keeps the eyeballs hydrated, and then it 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.440 protects the cornea. And the third is the lip layer 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.560 that's a bit like an oil slick, and it keeps 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:06.360 things nice and smooth on the surface. Now, the second 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:08.640 kind of tear, this, this is where it gets even 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.200 more interesting when you look at the reflex tears, because 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.480 they are reacting and they're springing forth when they sense 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.640 an irritant and they come out in larger quantities. You've 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.960 probably noticed before if you've ever gotten something in your eye. 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.560 And the aqueous layer of these tears contains antibodies to 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:30.680 stop any microorganisms in their tracks. Now the third is 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:37.400 emotional tears, right, and emotional tears act as mood stabilizers, 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.640 and they contain higher levels of stress hormones like a 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.720 C t H which is cortisol and and suffling, which 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.880 is an endorphin and a natural pain killer. So how 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:54.439 interesting that you are suffering from mental pain and you 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.320 have a pain killer that's being released within your eyeball 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.280 and shedding worth and purging this out of your system. Huh. 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.480 So with the first two cases, you can kind of 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.480 think it as think of it as the tier as 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.360 security force. So you have your basic security force just 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.480 out there to keep the peace. Then you have additional 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.960 security force that comes in when things get a little hectic, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.440 a little extra irritants in the eye. And then that 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.160 third area are kind of like at the grief counselors, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.480 the stress of UMM counselors that that that run out 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.640 to the eyeball. Uh in times of emotional conflict. That's 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:28.760 absolutely correct, all right. So now that we have that covered, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.440 we're gonna take the man hole off of the skin 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.800 here and go underneath into the water works and look 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.160 at the specifics. Yeah, grab raqel welch, grab donald pleasants, 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.840 grab coolio if you want. They think of it as 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:43.800 a fantastic voyage. If we were to climb into a 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:48.240 miniature submarine and enter through the eye, what would that 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.280 consist of. Well, you have two small openings at your 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.200 disposal here when we call these the puncta. Uh, there's 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.640 one in your upper eyelid, the upper punctum, and then 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.440 the lower eyelid the lower punctum. Okay, and if you 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:02.040 look in the mirror you can see these. You can 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.120 you know, pry your eyeball, your eyelid back and notice 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.160 them there. Um, that's where you're gonna want to point 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:11.319 your submarine. Follow follow those, take either either out your choice, 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:15.200 and you'll swim through twin tubes called the canal kus uh. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.640 And these connect to a fabulous place, probably a vacation spot, 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.120 the lacrymal sack or the lachrymal lake as it's sometimes called. 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.360 All right, and uh, this is tiers central. Now if 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.880 you were to keep going, uh, there is the nasal 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:34.240 lacrymal duct that allows passage down into your nasal cavity. Um. 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.720 And and this is interesting to note too because if 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.520 you've ever been especially with emotional tears, but also just 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.280 uh in irritants. You see pictures of people who are 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.480 maced uh footage, and you know there's a lot of 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.960 nasal activity going on as well. So that the the 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.439 the the tear ducts and the nasal connection. Uh, it's 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.439 right there. Now, how did the tears come out? Well? 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.480 Blinking in capillary action, push the tears through the lacrimal 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:02.800 drainage system. Your lids move evenly across your eyes, and 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.480 the blinking pumps tears into the punkta and they're drawn 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:11.360 into the lachrymal sack down the nose, etcetera. I'm just 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.079 trying to think about if this would be helpful to 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.600 think about that whole process when you're trying to suppress tears. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:19.360 Have you ever been in that situation where were like, 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.920 I feel them coming, you're not getting out. Maybe if 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.400 you could slow it down and even just imagine that 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.040 lachrymal way can say, Okay, we are not taking from 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.280 that lake. It needs to keep its reserves. Yeah, but 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.160 the water levels rising in there and the damn is 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.120 going to overflow it way it may all right, We're 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:38.800 gonna take a quick break. When we get back, we're 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:49.560 going to talk about good crimes come back, Frond, All right, 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.600 we're back. Why cry? Why do it? Well, as we've 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.400 already touched upon. Uh. Of course, part of it is 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.559 just you always have tears in your eyes. If you 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.000 had somebody that was so much of that, they never 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.280 had tiers, they would their eyes would dry out and 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.160 fall out of their heads. Right. But the second area 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.760 environmental stimuli that are causing the tears to well up. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.760 Various irritants can cause the eye to to well up 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.679 with tears, dirt, smoke, the fumes of an onion, uh, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:20.240 an eyelash, a troublesome contact lens. Um. We've all had 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:22.960 had good cases where it's just that sometimes it's something 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:24.800 you can't even tell what it was, Just some sort 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.280 of speck of dust floating around in the air gets 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.240 in there and suddenly it's, uh, it's gushing. Also, cold days, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.840 windy days, you'll notice some extra tears in there because 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.480 the tears also protect those eyes from getting too dry. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.120 So that's an area when you'll see some sort of 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.640 weepy eyes on cold days. Right. And then finally, allergies, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.880 infections like cold pink eye notice of course, known as 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.200 conjunctive itus, inflammations of the eye are going to cause 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.720 it to become watery, as well as any kind of 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.599 physical assault of your of your of your eyes is 0:12:57.640 --> 0:12:59.440 can also reduce in tears if you get poked in 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:05.640 the eye accidentally or intentionally. Now, in terms of emotional crying, 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.760 we all have had that moment before where we've cried 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:10.920 and it felt great and we moved on. It was 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.360 this release, and then we've all had that moment to 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.520 where you've cried and we actually felt worse afterwards. And 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.440 researchers at the University of South Florida they were interested 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.880 in finding out what makes a good cry good and 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.240 bad cry bad. And they looked at three thousand crying 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.560 related experiments, and you know, initially they said, Okay, a 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.520 lot of this has to do with the circumstance at 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.480 the time, who the person is, what they're doing, why 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.120 they're crying. But they did did tease out some more 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:47.400 universal insights into this, like the majority of respondents reported 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:51.080 improvements in their mood following about of crying. However, one 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:56.000 third reported no improvement, in a tenth felt worse after crying. 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:58.600 So they drilled down a little bit more to figure 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.880 out what was going on there. And they found out 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:06.160 that those who cried and received support during their crying 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.360 episode were the most likely to report improvements and mood 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.000 as opposed to those who were alone, and especially those 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.560 who were in a lab setting alone being videotaped, because 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:22.680 then you bring up perhaps emotions like shame and embarrassment. Now, 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:27.680 the other findings crying caused increased heart rate and sweating, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.160 but the calming effect like slow breathing, well, that out 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.880 trumped everything else, and that lasted much longer than the 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:38.760 other negative effects. And those that ten percent that felt 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.280 really terrible afterwards. Um, those people tend to be uh, 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:46.240 people with anxiety or mood disorders, and there of course 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.720 least likely to experience positive effects of crying. In addition, 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:53.040 and I thought that was just really interesting, this bit. Um. 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.720 The researchers report that people who lack insight into their 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:00.640 emotional lives, now this is a condition known as a exthemia, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:05.000 actually feel worse after crying. And the idea is that 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:10.800 for these people, they lack the emotional insight um into 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.239 a situation, and that could prevent the kind of cognitive 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.560 change required for a sad experience to be transformed into 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.080 something positive. Okay, So again, if you think of it 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.120 as sending in the grief counselors, sending in the stress counselors, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.160 if there's some sort of breakdown in your ability to 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:31.000 actually reflect and crunch that information, then I can see 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.160 where you would lose that therapeutic effect. Yeah, because we've 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.000 talked about this before. When you are trying to get 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.520 through a difficult or painful situation, a lot of times 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.400 you have to have the ability to reframe it. And 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.480 you can only reframe it if you have insights into 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.920 the problem that you can come back to and say, Okay, 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.200 I have a different perspective on this, um. But if 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.880 you have this condition that you just can't have that 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.520 moment that catharsis that would allow you that the idea 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.840 that that of weeping uncontrollable, almost as if you've lost 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.560 control of your your your bladder or your bowels. Right. Uh. Well, 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:11.280 there is one condition, an actual condition known as pseudo 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.880 bulbar effect or p d a UM, which is also 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.760 sometimes known as emotional incontinence, and according to MPR, two 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.000 million people in the US actually suffer from this. Uh. 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.440 It is a neurological disorder. I want to stress that 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.120 where it's Uh, it's neurological and nature. It's not an 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.600 emotional issue. It's all in the wiring of your brain 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:36.560 UM and it's characterized by involuntary crying, uncontrollable episodes of crying, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.480 and occasionally it spills over into areas of laughter as well. 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:42.760 But it occurs when disease or injury UH cause a 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.120 malfunction in the brain circuit involved in expression of emotion. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:50.000 So we're talking about it appearing is a symptom of 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:56.200 multiple sclerosis, a LS, Alzheimer's, parkinson stroke, traumatic brain injury, 0:16:56.480 --> 0:17:00.440 and the outburst can often be very disturbing and erassing 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.360 to the person UH that's afflicted with it. UH. It 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.639 can hit like a seizure, lasting for seconds or minutes, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.080 and it can happen several times of day. So it's 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.960 a Again, it's quite an ordeal to have to suffer 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.320 through it as a symptom of a greater disease. But 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.080 it's interesting that there there is a treatment for an 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.200 FDA approved treatment out there called dextro metamorphine, a key 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.199 ingredient in cough medicine and the one that leads to 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.600 recreational use of cough medicine in so called robo tripping, 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.480 which we do not encourage you to do, and it's 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.920 used here in treating p B A. Actually came out 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.679 of its out of researchers exploring its potential use as 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:39.879 an A L S treatment. It actually didn't help in 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:41.680 the treatment of A L S. But while they were 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.000 exploring the options here, they observed that it cut down 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:49.240 on emotional outbursts in A L S patients that were 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:52.440 also suffering from p p A as a symptom. Now 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.600 that's a scenario in which the person cannot help themselves. 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:59.639 They are not trying to cry on purpose. Obviously the 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.760 wires are crossed. But if you look at Dutch psychologist 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.800 ad vinger Hoots work, he says that if you're someone 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.119 who does not suffer from that in your crying, it 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.680 could be a kind of social signaling. Um. He calls 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:18.800 tears highly symbolic, and he and psychiatrist John Bilby point 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:24.400 to the early childhood mother child bond at play, in 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.280 which he says that you know, crying plays a really 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:32.920 critical role because it communicates suffering in an engender's empathy. So, 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:39.360 from an evolutionary biology perspective, Fingerhoots is basically saying that crying, 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.520 shedding a couple of tears is far safer um for 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:50.520 our ancestors, right then crying out, which a predator might hear. 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:55.600 You know, a silent tear falling can communicate to any 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.840 member of someone's family that they are suffering in their 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.639 own need of help. So he's coming at it from 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:05.679 that perspective. And to support this, he points to the 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:10.960 enlarged visual cortex and humans and primates. Now, this part 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.240 of the brain is something that allows us to read 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.440 really subtle um facial signaling in the face, whether it's 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:22.160 a micro expression blushing or tears. So he says that 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.399 you know, tears part and parcel of this kind of 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:30.680 um arsenal of ways that you can nonverbally communicate what's 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.040 going on emotionally, and it is an instant communication. I mean, 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.520 you see somebody on the on the train and they've 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.640 done some tears in your eyes, are instantly at least curious, 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.160 if not compassionate for that individual. Even with my my 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.480 my son two going on three, Like he sees another 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.560 kid crying, he instantly like starts asking questions like what happened? 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:51.840 What happened? To that boy, you know, and and uh 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.359 and and so I definitely, I definitely buy into some 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:59.040 of these ideas of the social communication of tears. Yeah, 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.400 and Fingerhot said that if you look at people who 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.800 are watching a Hollywood tear jerker in the studies that 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.440 he's conducted, when they're doing this with a friend, they 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.359 tend to cry and then have an improvement in mood 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.879 or report an improvement in mood. But when they watched 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.560 the tear jerker alone, there's no improvement in mood or 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:24.080 overall in his findings. So that again points to his 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.720 idea that this could be social signaling, because if there's 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:29.399 no one around to see it, it's kind of like 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:33.320 a tree falling in the woods. I'm I'm I'm sadden 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.560 that the study didn't go into look what happens when 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.639 you shed tears for a piece of media that you 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:41.879 do not want to make you cry? You know what 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.760 I'm saying? Like example, well, okay, to be a pieces 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:48.639 of media that I instantly can remember having shed a 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:51.800 tear got a little worked up over um In Madmen, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.560 there was a character death in there that that that 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:56.960 was really emotional and that that that really choked me. Up, 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.080 and I was like, all right, madman, you're a great show, 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.520 you're well put together. I'm totally okay with you tinkering 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.760 with my emotion. But then then once and this was 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.399 not like heavy weeping or anything, but I was watching 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:10.720 Sons of Anarchy and uh, and I had and I 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:12.520 had a little tear crop card on my face and 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:14.879 I'm like, Sons of Anarchy, you did not get to 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.119 make me cry, but you know, kudos you managed to 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:20.520 do it. But I feel like they're there are other 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:22.639 cases of that. Have you ever had that happened to 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.280 you where the media maybe it's your mood or something, 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.160 the media gets into you when you really would rather 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.320 it not to have that power over your emotion. Yeah, 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:35.240 it's when it's usually more of a modeling moments that 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.880 don't normally buy into this sort of you know, saccharine, 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:44.119 sugary moments that that feel, um, not very authentic, And 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:46.320 every once in a while it'll it'll catch me unawares. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:51.880 Why am I crying about this Lifetime special? I'm just kidding, um, 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:54.040 But you know, some sort of piece of media that 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:58.199 doesn't feel like it's earned it, you know, Yeah, like 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.959 you don't get my tears um and which you know 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.200 makes you kind of wonder, are we the only animals? 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:10.240 Are we the only organisms on this earth who cry emotionally? 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:14.120 And you know, the the jury is still out on this. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:18.040 We know that other animals cry, just not emotionally. So 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:22.080 we're talking about apes and elephants, even camels um. Last year, 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.280 Discovery News reported on a spate of elephants who were 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:30.680 observed to cry after traumatic events. For instance, quote rescuers 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:33.640 of a male elephant brutally abused for fifty years in 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:36.600 India claimed that after the chains and spikes were removed 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:41.680 from elephant Raju's legs, tear streamed down its face. And 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.920 animal behaviorist Mark beck Off says that some mammals may 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.879 cry due to a loss of contact comfort and that 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.800 this could be a hardwired response to not feeling touch. 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:58.800 So he's parsing at out more in physicality and physiology, 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:03.760 but that sort of boils down to emotional crying, right, 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:07.959 because if touch is soothing, and soothing is playing into 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.480 your emotional response, well then they're all connected. That being said, 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:17.639 the jury is out. You know, at the top of 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:21.000 this episode, you mentioned the drinking of tears like fine wine. 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:24.960 And uh is we're discussing the animal world, and we 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:28.520 really need to point out that you do find tier 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:33.800 vampires in the world, um specifically tear feeding moths and butterflies. 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:37.240 You'll find these in Africa, Asia, South American and they 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:40.440 mainly feed on large blasted animals such as a deer 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:43.679 and antelope, a crocodile. They getting close, they drink some 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:46.000 of that moist goodness, uh, you know, as if it 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:47.880 were morning dew, and then they get out of there. 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:50.360 I mean, why not. It's there, it's it's liquid, it's drinkable, 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.520