10 interesting Tear facts
Have you ever thought about your tears? Have you ever thought about how and where the tears come from? Isn’t it weird to see the tears rolling down your eyes under contrasting scenarios – Watching a movie, Going through a personal loss, Chopping onion into pieces?
Fact 1: There are three different kinds of tears
The basal tear, the emotional tear, and the reflex tear
1. Basal tear – Basal tear coats the eye, provide nutrients to the outer structures of the eye, and prevent the eye from drying out
2. Emotional tear – This tear is produced when one is overcome with emotions. Scientists have found traces of stress chemicals and feel-good hormone endorphins in emotional tears.
3. Reflex tear – The body makes these types of tears as a reflex response. For example, eye generates tear when a bug or dirt falls into the eye to flush it out
Fact 2: Tear has in it over 1,500 different proteins
The tear is mostly made of water, and also contain salt, fatty oils, and over 1,500 different proteins. Tears also contain small levels of magnesium and calcium
Fact 3: Tears have two distinct layers from the outer surface
Tears have two distinct layers, namely a lipid layer and an aqueous layer. The lipid layer is secreted by the Meibomian glands on the edges of our eyelids. It prevents the evaporation of tears by covering the outer surface. The Aqueous Layer performs the key functions of tears, like supplying nutrients to the cornea, preventing infection, and healing damage.
Fact 4: An irritating gas released by onions is that make you cry
When you chop onions Syn-propanethial-S-oxide gas gets released, which irritates the eyes making it to produce tears
Fact 5: Tear duct does not make tears
It’s not the tear ducts, but lacrimal glands of the eye that actually make tears. The tears then flow over the eye and drain into the tear ducts
Fact 6: Newborn babies don’t produce tears during the first month
Upto 2-4 weeks of your little one’s life, their eyes would be dry, even when they’re crying. Sometimes babies develop a condition called dacryocystitis, wherein a tear duct gets clogged. This is a serious condition and needs to be treated.
Fact 7: Women cry twice as much as men
A study by Vingerhoets a clinical psychologist at Tilburg University, suggests that Women cry 30 to 64 times a year, whereas men cry just 6 to 17 times per year. Also, women cry for six minutes at a time, on average, whereas men, cry for about two to three minutes on average.
Fact 8: Reason your nose runs when you cry
In case lacrimal glands produce excess tears, they flow into tear ducts, and from there, they drain into the nasal cavity. Here it mixes up with mucus resulting in a runny nose
Fact 9: How Tear Gas affects eyes
Tear gas considered lachrymator substances are mostly made up of aerosolized solid or liquid compounds (bromoacetone or xylyl bromide) which cause burning and redness of the eyes. This result in production of excess tears.
Fact 10: Don’t worry, you will never run out of tears
Tear production can slow down due to health and aging, but then it will never completely run out
As you can see, tears indeed are incredible. Hope you enjoyed reading these 10 facts.
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