London - Turning on the waterworks when things are getting you down will not necessarily wash away your cares.
Far from making you feel better - as old-fashioned advice suggests - tears can actually make everything seem worse.
Two thirds of women feel no better after crying, scientists say, and the resulting low mood can last for up to two days.
In fact, nine percent say that crying makes them feel even more depressed and upset.
Researcher Jonathan Rottenberg, associate professor of the University of South Florida, said: “Only a minority of crying episodes were associated with mood improvement - against conventional wisdom. Crying is not nearly as beneficial as people think.”
Rather than encouraging people to cry, he suggests it makes more sense to encourage them to bolster their social networks.
“When crying helps, it’s likely not because of the tears but because it recruits social support and draws attention to important problems,” he added. The study collected data from 97 women between the ages of 18 and 48. They kept diaries monitoring their moods for up to 73 days.
For almost a third of women, tears lived up to a “good cry” status and gave them a boost in their mood, researchers found.
For those who experienced a pay-off from crying, intensity, rather than duration tended to be the deciding factor.
And crying with one other person present was said to be more positive than crying alone, while crying in front of a group was worse for the mood.
An average cry lasted eight minutes and took place in the living room.
Conflict, loss, or seeing others suffer were the most common triggers, according to the joint Dutch and American report in the Journal of Research Personality. - Daily Mail