Crying is one of the body’s natural responses to intense emotions. Some people cry easily, while others don’t cry too often. So how many calories does crying burn?
While crying does burn calories, you have to cry for hours, days on end, to burn as many calories as in one quick walk. Crying is believed to burn about the same number of calories as laughing, which is 1.3 calories per minute. So if cry for 10 minutes of sobbing, you burn 13 more calories than you would without crying.
Grief for a loved one, a breakup, and depression are some of the common causes of frequent crying. When experiencing strong emotions, you may notice weight loss that seems to be associated with crying. Keep reading to learn more!
Number Of Calories Burned While Crying
While it seems that crying is one of the least things to do when you want to burn calories, it can have some other benefits also. As we’ve stated above, you can burn a few calories depending on how many minutes, if you cry for 5 minutes you can burn 6.5 calories. To get a clear picture if you cry you burn 1.3 calories/minute. Let’s take a look at the table below.
Calories Burned While Crying Per Minutes Table
| Time Crying | Total Calories Burned |
| 5 minutes | 6.5 calories |
| 10 minutes | 13 calories |
| 15 minutes | 19.5 calories |
| 20 minutes | 26 calories |
| 25 minutes | 32.5 calories |
| 30 minutes | 39 calories |
| 35 minutes | 45 calories |
| 40 minutes | 52 calories |
| 45 minutes | 58.5 calories |
| 50 minutes | 65 calories |
| 55 minutes | 71.5 calories |
| 60 minutes | 78 calories |
What are the Calories?
The energy amount which is released as our body breaks down food is known as calories. When proper exercises are not done, more calories are stored as fat in our bodies. To use the energy produced from food, we should exercise more and burn calories.
What Causes Too Many Calories?
Too many calories come as a result of;
1. Poor diet
Getting many calories doesn’t occur overnight. It gradually develops with time due to poor diet and lifetime choices like drinking too much alcohol, consuming lots of processed foods, comfort eating, overeating, and many more.
2. Lack of Physical Activity
This is one of the major ways lots of calories get stored in your body. Today, people have jobs that only require sitting and rely on vehicles instead of cycling or walking. Besides, they relax by watching TV, playing games on the computer, and browsing the internet. If you are not active, the energy provided from the consumed food won’t be used, thus storing the extra energy as body fat.
3. Medical conditions
In some cases, calories tend to be more in your body because of certain medical conditions. They include Cushing’s syndrome, which is a rare disorder that leads to the overproduction of steroids.
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Different Methods to Burn Calories
It is very important to develop a regular exercise program. You need to understand your body’s needs, find the sport you enjoy, and make sure it can have the desired health effects.
And, if you do not have a lot of free time, it is important to understand how much energy is spent on a particular exercise, that is, how many kilocalories it burns.
The path to burning calories and getting a good body begins not with a subscription to a fitness club but with small and healthy habits. Here are the amazing ways to burn calories;
1. Walk in the morning
Before you sit down to breakfast, you should take your dog for a walk, go down to the store for fresh milk, and finally walk around your house. Such a promenade will boost vivacity, prepare the body for the working day and start metabolism. A 20 minutes walk is about 100 calories gone.
2. Running
Running is the best way to burn calories. Even brisk walking for 30 minutes will burn about 300-400 calories. You can burn 500 kcal by jogging 6 km or walking 10 km. It is important to find the optimal fat-burning zone, usually the second-intensity zone, the so-called aerobic developmental zone.
At this stage, you need to perform exercises with a long duration and moderate intensity. It can be long runs from 45 minutes at low speed or fast jogging for no more than 30 minutes. For example, a man weighing 70–80 kg will be able to burn about 500 kcal.
3. Walk on the stairs
Although the elevator will shorten the travel time from point A to point B, it will definitely not make you lose calories. 7 to 10 kilocalories can be burned on the stairs.
4. Cycling
Cycling is the perfect workout for calorie loss. This is an intense cardio workout that promotes fat burning, increases endurance, and strengthens the muscles. In a standard workout in 45 minutes with invigorating music, you can burn 500-700 calories.
It takes longer to burn 1000 calories. And in just some 15 minutes, about 105 kilocalories are burned. Imagine what your body shape would be if weekend cycling became a habit.
5. Skiing
For 2-3 hours of skiing, you can burn up to 1500 kcal. However, this is a very high figure in terms of the number of calories. Not everyone can burn them in one workout. Serious preparation of the body is required.
6. Jump rope
It’s time to take up the old again because 110 kilocalories are at stake for every 10 minutes of pleasure.
7. Gardening
In autumn, the work in the garden does not end. Gathering leaves, picking apples, digging out flowers – all this will not only transform the garden but also make you at least 113 kilocalories slimmer in 25 minutes.
8. Fussiness
A calm person consumes less energy than a fussy one. In fact, this is a point worth considering. Ensure that you make your body constantly moving. Tap your toes on the table, and jerk your legs when you sit.
In general, be full of fussiness. If you become fussy, you can burn 600 more calories than usual. If you spend the whole day vainly on your feet, then this is already 950 additional calories.
9. Shopping
During shopping trips, you walk a lot. The more purchases, the more energy is required. If your travel speed is about 3 km / h, then in 1 hour, you will burn 200 calories. If there is a queue, then within 30 minutes of standing in it, you can easily get rid of 50 calories.
10. Drinking cold water
The colder the water, the more energy the body has to bear to warm it up. Drink 5 liters of cold water a day to burn 125 calories.
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Does crying burn calories?
Crying is one of your body’s natural responses to intense emotions. Some people cry easily, while others don’t cry too often. Whenever you cry because of overwhelming feelings, you are producing the so-called “psychic tears.” The mental tears transform your psychological response into a physical one.
Your psychic tears affect your brain signals, your hormones, and even your metabolic processes. Researchers recently became curious to see if these exposures have broader and longer-term effects on your body after you cry.
Since crying burns calories, detoxifies, and balances your hormones, some have begun to speculate that frequent crying may even help you lose weight.
Some of you may not believe that you can lose weight by letting go of your emotions. Many people have experienced a similar situation, and we all know this: we are nervous, we eat more, and after a few days, we realize that our favorite jeans have become tight.
How can you burn calories under these circumstances? This is ridiculous! But it all depends on where the cortisol ends up.
Related article: How Long Does It Take For Anyone to Lose 50 Pounds?
Cortisol in Relation to Burning Calories
It seems that we do not fully understand the essence of the process. It is true that cortisol, a hormone released when we are stressed, is linked to the too many calories we get every day. The hormone helps us fight everything that makes us nervous.
The problem is that nowadays, people are not physically fighting for survival but prefer to be in their anger and frustration. As a result, our body thinks that we are wasting calories to survive a dangerous situation and tries to replenish our reserves as soon as possible. This is why we tend to seize on negative, painful experiences.
Meanwhile, scientists discovered that emotional tears contain hormones that increase cortisol levels. These include prolactin, leu-enkephalin, and adrenocorticotropin. All of these substances are produced when we are under great pressure from the outside world.
Therefore, when we are not suppressing our emotions and crying, these hormones are released, and cortisol levels decrease. As a result, our body signals that we do not need to store fat since the stressful situation is over.
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Benefits of Crying
It is not only babies and young children that cry but also adults. You must have cried in your room or bathroom when you were alone. Happiness can trigger crying. Also, sadness, anger, or irritation can trigger tears.
Crying is very natural for all people from all walks of life. This is fine. In fact, crying also benefits you. Wondering what the use of crying is? Check out the following benefits;
1. Crying relieves stress
You may be familiar with the feeling of relaxation and peace that comes from crying. Researchers have found that crying actually stabilizes your mood and helps relieve stress from your body. Crying usually shows feelings of loss, separation, or helplessness that can put your body on high alert.
Crying may be a mechanism humans have developed to restore calmness to the body and brain. Stressed animals experience crying, too, although usually not with tears in their eyes.
Crying during stress is one of the best ways to relieve stress and induce feelings of relief. When you cry due to stress, your body actually releases stress hormones or toxins from your body through dripping tears.
When you are under stress, the chemicals in your body are out of balance. So, crying can help reduce these effects. Crying can help release emotions, stress, and tension from negative feelings, pressures, and frustrations that have been deep within you all this time.
2. Crying Removes Toxins from the Body
Tears always flow from your body to protect your eyes from irritation and lubricate your eyes. When you cry with emotion, your tears contain an additional component known as cortisol, a stress hormone.
When you cry for a long time, you can release stressors. Regulating cortisol can help you shed stubborn belly fat and can also help you feel less stressed.
3. Improve Vision and Protect Eyes
The lacrimal glands produce the tears that come out of your eye. These tears can help you clear dust from your eyes, prevent eye irritation, and keep your eyes moist. So, tears can clear your vision.
Crying can also prevent dryness or dehydration of the mucous membranes of the eyes. Dry eyes can make the eyes vulnerable to bacterial attack.
Tears contain an antibacterial agent called lysozyme. This lysozyme can kill certain bacteria by destroying the bacterial cell wall. This way, with tears that always wet the area around the eyes (called basal tears), tears will still protect your eyes from various foreign objects.
4. Crying Helps to Recover from Grief and Pain
When you cry for a long period, your body produces hormones like oxytocin and endorphins. These natural chemicals give your brain the feeling of “calmness” and “emptiness” that occurs after you cry. The hormones are associated with relief, love, and happiness and can help you deal with the intense emotions associated with grief and loss.
These hormones not only dull psychological pain but can also dull physical pain. This could be the reason why your body activates the crying reflex when you have a physical injury.
5. Crying will Cheer you up
It is not only good for your physical health but also good for your mental health. Further, crying can improve your mood for the better. 2008 the University of South Florida study found that crying can calm and improve mood better than any antidepressant.
If asked, did you feel better after crying? In general, everyone will say yes. However, it also depends on why you are crying and how you deal with crying. People with anxiety or mood disorders may be less likely to experience the beneficial effects of crying.
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Final Words
Crying burns calories, but not enough to cause significant weight loss. According to research, watching a sad movie or working to induce a crying fit won’t replace your workout.
Crying does serve an important purpose, and from time to time, crying can have health benefits such as relieving stress. So, try to let go of everything that has accumulated.
Crying therapy is the most effective way to start over, and besides, it is ideal for burning calories. Do you intend to accumulate emotions or release them? Then crying seems to help.