I never used to cry much. Then I went through a horrible period of depression where I often did. Now I don't so much anymore again.

There is also another factor that I think is becoming more prevalent and that's men allowing tears to be more visible.

I've heard people (mainly women) say men don't shed tears when they cry. I used to work with a woman that said while she had seen her husband cry several times he never once shed an actual tear.

But, I read a while back that men are just as capable of producing tears as women are. There is a fact that female tears are chemically different which makes women cry more - that may be true but when the emotional button is pushed and a man allows himself to cry the tears will flow just fine.

There was also the view men have bigger tear drainage pipes than women which cause women's tears tears to spill over more readily than men. This is not what I've observed - I've seen a number of men cry and almost all have had no problem getting tears to flow from their eyes.

I've seen several men cry openly with tears rolling freely and visibly down their cheeks - they were not embarrassed to be seen crying - perhaps 10 years or so ago men would hide their tears more - cry alone, blink them away or wipe their eyes directly to hide them. But, I think men have always had the ability to shed tears.

So, questions - for the guys on the forum to answer - and the women to answer for the men in their lives. Have you allowed (seen) tears to roll down you cheeks? Do tears always spill over easily when you cry? Basically tell me about your tears when you cry 

For me... tears come very easily when I cry - if I'm hit with an emotional moment any longer than about 30 seconds tears will be in my eyes at least and will spill over very shortly afterwards. If I'm alone, or in the right company I will allow my tears to roll down my cheeks.

 

I have a feeling we are going to have a great number of good chats 

Tears do drain into the nose - I'm no medical expert but as I understand it our eyes are constantly making tears to keep your eyes moist, lubricated and protect again dust etc. These are basal tears and they are produced at such a low volume they drain via the tear ducts at the inner corner of your eyes into your nose without you noticing.

Reflex tears are tears produced in response to irritants like onions or smoke - basically your eyes make lots of tears to flush the irritants out - these can overwhelm the tear duct which is why tears run down your cheek when you chop onions. These tears are mostly water.

Finally there is emotional tears - as you will probably guess they are created when we cry and are under emotional stress. As well as the usual water content they contain different chemicals - can't remember the details but they are basically harmful stress hormones and like most things bad they are expelled from the body as tears - which is why crying can be considered a good and healthy activity to indulge in.   

You probably knew all that but it's a useful bit of information for folks that don't know some of the details.

Back to your tears - thanks you so much for your answer - it's perfect - it confirms you also shed tears when you cry - and your estimated tears per minute can definitely be regarded as flowing tears. I would estimate my tears per minute to between 3-5 tpm at the lower end and probably 10+ when I'm crying hard. But everyone is different I think women cry roughly the same number of tears per minute - perhaps more often to the higher end of the scale.

You mention you have seen other men shed tears - can you give any more details? 

I have seen quite a few men cry - I'll probably do a few observations at some point for detail - but most shed tears down their cheeks. Yes, some ae clearly embarrassed and try to hide the tears or fight to stop themselves from crying - which both sexes do. But when it's uncontrollable or they just let themselves cry the volume of tears is very similar to women in my opinion. 

tearhunter wrote:

I have a feeling we are going to have a great number of good chats 

Tears do drain into the nose - I'm no medical expert but as I understand it our eyes are constantly making tears to keep your eyes moist, lubricated and protect again dust etc. These are basal tears and they are produced at such a low volume they drain via the tear ducts at the inner corner of your eyes into your nose without you noticing.

Reflex tears are tears produced in response to irritants like onions or smoke - basically your eyes make lots of tears to flush the irritants out - these can overwhelm the tear duct which is why tears run down your cheek when you chop onions. These tears are mostly water.

Finally there is emotional tears - as you will probably guess they are created when we cry and are under emotional stress. As well as the usual water content they contain different chemicals - can't remember the details but they are basically harmful stress hormones and like most things bad they are expelled from the body as tears - which is why crying can be considered a good and healthy activity to indulge in.   

You probably knew all that but it's a useful bit of information for folks that don't know some of the details.

Back to your tears - thanks you so much for your answer - it's perfect - it confirms you also shed tears when you cry - and your estimated tears per minute can definitely be regarded as flowing tears. I would estimate my tears per minute to between 3-5 tpm at the lower end and probably 10+ when I'm crying hard. But everyone is different I think women cry roughly the same number of tears per minute - perhaps more often to the higher end of the scale.

You mention you have seen other men shed tears - can you give any more details? 

I have seen quite a few men cry - I'll probably do a few observations at some point for detail - but most shed tears down their cheeks. Yes, some ae clearly embarrassed and try to hide the tears or fight to stop themselves from crying - which both sexes do. But when it's uncontrollable or they just let themselves cry the volume of tears is very similar to women in my opinion. 

Thank you for the info, in your experience, what would be the average tpm in females?

Also, skipping particular situations, I’ll give two examples, a guy in his early 20’s full blown sobbing in front of a group of over 50+ people, unchecked tears, I couldn’t even count, he was an open faucet, sobbing loudly. The second, in a similar setting, male, cop, late 50s, crying as he gives testimony of his life and how he changed (for good), same group of people.
You can picture the setting as a therapy help.