To figure out how to stop crying uncontrollably, it is important to understand the different reasons why you might feel the urge to.

1. Why you might feel you want to cry

  • You are having an emotional response: A touching scene in a movie or high point of a story are among scenarios that can trigger a tear-inducing emotional reaction. So can receiving bad news or being faced with disappointment. The intensity of your feelings can be further amplified if you can relate to what’s happening.  It may also determine how much you want to cry.
  • Pain: Intense pain caused by physical hurt can cause you to cry as well.
  • You are feeling overwhelmed: If too many things are happening all at once, you might feel swamped. Strong fear of the unknown can escalate into stressful feelings and create a pressure cooker situation. Frustration can quickly lead to the urge to cry as a way to release some of the tension.
  • Recalling sad or bad memories: A sudden onset of memories relating to significant loss or trauma can also cause you to feel sorrowful and low-spirited. If the memories affect you enough, you could find yourself shedding tears, even if you don’t want to cry.
  • Something is in your eye: Dust particles and other debris getting in your eyes can result in irritation. This is not necessarily crying. But the resulting tears can mimic the sensation if the foreign matter is not removed promptly.
  • Your eyes are affected by a chemical: Again, this is not crying, but some chemicals can produce similar symptoms to uncontrollable crying. Common culprits include fumes released when cutting onions and smoke.

2. How to stop crying fast

Depending on the reason why you might feel like you want to cry, there are times when you don’t want to due to feelings of embarrassment or discomfort. The following 7 tips will show you how to stop crying fast, whether you are feeling stress, grief, or can’t figure out why yo are teary eyed.

Redirect your thoughts to something more cheerful

Closeup photo of amazing short hairdo lady biting lips looking up empty space, have doubts deep thinking wear casual green turtleneck warm isolated yellow color background

If you are feeling the need to cry due to something you remember, directing your thoughts elsewhere may be able to stem the flow of tears. Try to think of something or someone totally different from the tear-causing thought. Thinking about a funny joke, for instance, can replace a somber mood with a lighter, cheerier feeling that relieves the urge to cry.

Blink to stop the tears

If your eyes are already raining and you want it to stop, you can try blinking away the tears. You do need to blink in rapid succession and shift your eyes around for this to be successful. What this does is clear away the tears that are already in your eyes by spreading them around. If one or two tears do manage to roll down your face, the blinking will help to prevent any more from being produced. While blinking, you can also try to change the thoughts in your head to help you to stop crying quicker.

On the other hand, in the case where you feel the sensation to cry coming on but the tears are not yet coming, you may want to avoid blinking. If you manage to keep the blinks away, it is possible to stop the tears from accumulating.

Turn away 

You might feel the urge to shed a tear if someone is saying words that get under your skin. Responding in the moment may cause you to lash out and lose grip on your emotions. Being at a funeral or other mournful event can also put you in situations that cause you to feel emotional. To avoid losing control, try walking away as quickly as possible. Taking yourself away from the person or scenario can help you regain composure. It will also allow you to take stock of your emotions and stop the crying if the tears have already begun to roll.

Squeeze your nose

If you have started crying and want to stop, you can try pinching your nose bridge to slow or stop the flow of tears. This method might seem foolish but there is a good reason why it just might work. Your tear ducts are situated between the inner corner of your eyes and the sides of your nose. Applying pressure to the upper portion of your nose can literally stop the tears from being released.

Distract yourself

Distracting your body at the right time can also stop the tears from running down your cheeks if you don’t want them to. There are a number of ways to do this. You can run your hand through your hair, bite your lip, change seating position or clear your throat. Successfully distracting your body from the situation will help to confuse your mental state and lessen the emotional response.

Breathe in a controlled manner

Face.

When you cry, your breathing pattern gets disrupted, causing sniffles and ragged breaths. With that said, regaining control of your respiration is pivotal to how soon you stop crying. To do this successfully, try taking deep, cleansing breaths and then exhaling slowly. Increase your concentration on this breathing pattern by counting to 10 between each breath. Your crying will start to subside if you are doing it properly. That’s because the deliberate deep breathing will help to calm you down and relieve the tension causing you to cry (or want to cry in the first place).

Look upwards

If tears are settled in your eyes, another way to prevent them from falling is to tilt your head skywards. Like everything else, the downward movement of tears is controlled by gravity. If you are holding your head up, and the volume of your tears is moderate, they will likely settle on your eyelids. Looking upwards is also one way to distract yourself from the emotional state that is causing you to cry.

Uncontrollable crying can be embarrassing and frustrating, especially in public settings. With practice and a little concentration, you can learn how to stop crying when you feel the need to.

Why do I cry so easily?

Hormones

Hormones are the chemical messengers that control bodily functions like hunger, reproduction, emotions, and mood. “Anything that causes a shift in hormones, like premenstrual time, postpartum, or menopause, may cause women to cry more easily,” Dr. Saltz says.

Is crying for no reason bad?

First things first, there is nothing wrong with crying. Some people cry more than others and it is absolutely fine. In fact, crying is good as it is a natural stress reliever. So, someone who cries may actually be better off than someone who does not.

Is it OK to cry yourself to sleep?

A small study in 2015 found that crying can help babies sleep better. Whether crying has the same sleep-enhancing effect on adults is yet to be researched. However, it follows that the calming, mood-enhancing, and pain-relieving effects of crying above may help a person fall asleep more easily.

Is it OK to cry everyday?

There are people who cry everyday for no particularly good reason, who are truly sad. And if you are tearful everyday over activities that are normal in your life, that may be depression. And that’s not normal and it is treatable.

Is it normal to cry for an hour?

A newer study found that the average duration for a crying session was eight minutes. If you’re concerned that you’re crying too much, if you can’t seem to stop crying, or have started crying more than usual, talk to your doctor. It may be a sign of depression or another mood disorder.

Does crying relieve stress?

Emotional tears also contain more mood-regulating manganese than the other types. Stress “tightens muscles and heightens tension, so when you cry you release some of that,” Sideroff says. “[Crying] activates the parasympathetic nervous system and restores the body to a state of balance.”

Can crying too much hurt your heart?

The researchers found that sudden emotional stress could result in severe weakness in the heart muscle, making it seem as though the person was having a heart attack. This “broken heart syndrome,” says Goldberg, was more common in women.

Can you run out of tears?

Cry all you want — you won’t run out of tears

Your tears are produced by lacrimal glands located above your eyes. Tears spread across the surface of the eye when you blink. While tear production can slow down due to certain factors, such as health and aging, you don’t actually run out of tears.

Why does it physically hurt to cry?

Crying and the types of headache it can cause are the body’s response to sadness. Sadness triggers stress, which causes the body to release hormones such as cortisol. These hormones stimulate neurotransmitters in the brain that cause physical reactions such as crying, headaches, and runny noses.

What are the side effects of not crying?

Results In the main survey, tearless cases had less connection with others, less empathy, and experienced less social support, but were equal in terms of well-being. They also reported being less moved by emotional stimuli and had a more avoidant and less anxious attachment style.

Why do I not cry?

How do you fake crying easily?

The bottom line. Some people cry more easily than others, and that’s normal. People are different, so it stands to reason that emotional expression varies from person to person. If you can‘t cry at all, you might have a hard time working through your own emotions, and you could also find it tough to connect with others

Does crying dehydrate your skin?

Should I cleanse my face after crying?

“Typically, tears are made from water, toxins, lysozyme, salt, lipids, and more,” she says. “Lysozyme, in particular, is an enzyme that helps get rid of bacteria, and, theoretically, it can combat against acne and other bacteria found on the face. Also, the salt content from tears can dry out the skin as well.”

Why do we feel better after crying?

As for the tears themselves, Dr. Wechsler recommends rinsing them off to abate dryness. If you’ve cried within a half hour of doing your skincare routine, you can rinse with a gentle cleanser (or water, if you think another wash will be too drying) and re-apply your skincare products.

How do you fix your face after crying?

Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel–good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain. Once the endorphins are released, your body may go into somewhat of a numb stage. Oxytocin can give you a sense of calm or well-being.