Go Help Yourself: A Comedy Self-Help Podcast to Make Life Suck Less · Misty Stinnett & Lisa Linke

The 5 Benefits of Crying (If You’re Nasty)

·27 min·1 clip

Crying may help the brain make connections that support learning and acceptance.

1. Go Help Yourself: A Comedy Self-Help Podcast to Make Life Suck Less centers this episode on the five benefits of crying. 2. Lisa Linke and Misty Stinnett host the show, and Lisa reads the Bottom Line Personal article that drives the segment while Misty reacts with jokes and personal examples. 3. The episode asks whether crying has measurable benefits, then uses Mary Frances O'Connor’s grief research to answer that question. 4. Lisa identifies O'Connor as an associate professor in psychology and director of the GLASS Lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 5. The discussion separates irritant reflex tears, like onion tears, from psycho-emotional tears triggered by sad movies or real-life grief. 6. Lisa says psycho-emotional tears contain prolactin, leucine, and caphalin, and Misty jokes about the chemistry of tears. 7. The first benefit is that crying helps with the grieving process, especially after a loved one dies. 8. Lisa notes that some people cry multiple times a day after a loss, while others do not cry even if they want to. 9. The second benefit is that crying can connect people to others because it functions as social communication. 10. Misty frames that as a way to signal comfort or help, and Lisa agrees that others can easily recognize the need. 11. The third benefit is that crying can help regulate physiology through deep breathing and the body’s stress response. 12. The fourth benefit is that crying can make people feel calmer afterwards because of pain-relieving neurochemicals released during crying. 13. The fifth benefit is that crying may help with learning and acceptance when oxytocin increases the brain’s ability to make connections. 14. Lisa uses examples like a child’s wedding and the loss of a loved one to show how crying may help the brain process permanent change. 15. The episode also includes a sidebar on whether excessive crying points to depression. 16. Lisa reads that crying alone is not a diagnostic criterion, but it can be a signal to seek mental health help when it creates dysfunction. 17. The tone is conversational, playful, and full of banter about jackhammers, levels, and “if you’re nasty.” 18. The format mixes a self-help book review, a magazine article read-through, and a personal catch-up between the hosts. 19. Listeners who like psychology, grief, and comedy banter will enjoy it. 20. Listeners wanting a strict, serious medical discussion may skip it.

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