Shouting and moaning helps reduce pain levels, researchers at the University of Singapore have found. It turns out that the various sounds that we make when we are in pain affect the transmission of pain signals in the body.

Biologists have previously suggested that humans scream when in pain to warn others of danger. Allegedly, this instinct was laid down in us evolutionarily, when we still lived in tribes in a hostile environment. Now, however, researchers have found that we scream just to feel less pain.

“The ah-ah-ah scream and similar sounds in different languages ​​are produced by simply opening the mouth, in which the tongue remains pressed and the lips do not curl,” the researchers write. “This is a very simple sound that requires minimal articulation with maximum loudness It is a very effective method of reducing pain level".

WHY DOES PEOPLE CRY IN PAIN?

This is not an attempt to arouse the sympathy of others, sometimes on the contrary - tears well up despite our strongest desire to hide them. It is well known that tears protect the eyes from possible damage when foreign bodies get in - specks, small insects, etc. But why do tears appear even when the eyes are completely untouched by the lesion?

The human body is a single whole and has a single complex system of self-defense from various influences that can harm it. Obviously, the activity of the lacrimal glands should also pursue the same goal, and tears are the result, or rather, a by-product of this activity.

This was confirmed in the process of research conducted at the Cardiology Center of the Academy of Medical Sciences (DAN USSR, vol., 279, No. 1, 1984). So, wounds on the skin of experimental animals healed much faster when the animals were induced to lacrimate. If the activity of the lacrimal glands was blocked or they were removed altogether, then the recovery process was delayed for a long time. On the other hand, healing was accelerated if the animals were injected with an extract from crushed lacrimal glands.

Studies have shown that the lacrimal glands produce a certain biological compound or a complex of compounds that significantly accelerate wound healing. But what this substance or substances is, remains to be established.

Tears in general are fraught with many obscure things. After all, we can safely say that a person is the only creature in whose life tears mean so much. And yet this simple action seems strange. In animals, the release of tears is a reflex process; their tears simply moisten the eyes and carry out a number of other purely physiological functions. And in a person, tears are an emotional phenomenon; they arise not only from physical pain, but can appear in moments of sadness, joy, or even sometimes from memories of these experiences.

American biochemist William X . Frey has been studying tears for many years, for which thousands of volunteers wept for the good of the cause. The scientist found that "emotional" tears contain more protein than reflex tears, but the reason for this is not yet clear. Emotional tears can also occur if the nerves responsible for the appearance of reflex tears are damaged.

Frey believes that tears, among other functions, remove toxic substances from the body that are formed during various stressful situations.

The newborn does not begin to cry immediately, but after 5-12 weeks after birth, although much earlier than he begins to laugh (about the fifth month). Tears somehow counterbalance a person's well-being. Children, due to the disease, deprived of the ability to secrete tears when crying, have a very low resistance to emotional stress.

And the anthropologist E. Montague generally believes that the lacrimal mechanism not only became stronger in humans in the process of evolution, but somehow turned out to be one of the most important factors in the formation of man as a biological species and his survival. “Even the tearless cry of an infant dries out the membranes of the mucous membranes of the nose and throat, which in young individuals are highly susceptible to the introduction of bacteria and viruses,” the scientist says. “When these membranes are irrigated with the enzyme lysozyme, synthesized by the lacrimal glands, their protective activity is noticeably enhanced.”

I think that few of us think about the topic, what are tears? A manifestation of pain that takes the form of wet drops that are born in the eyes and die on the cheeks, or some kind of special reaction of the body to the offense caused? 98 people out of 100 (if all 100 people are not doctors) to the question “what are tears?” are unlikely to give the correct answer. And what are the tears that contain these crystal, salty droplets? How do they appear and how do they help the body?

Man is the only living creature that cries. Crying seems like such a simple act! But there is a lot of confusion here. Women cry more than men. Is it about biology? Or in the sentimentality of women? Or the size of the nose, as one anthropologist suggested? The smaller the nasal passages, the less tears flow through the nose. Science can now distinguish between physiological - reflex tears, necessary to moisten and cleanse the eyes (this is how mammals "cry"), and emotional tears, which usually occur in sadness and joy. In Russia, they were compared with pearls, the Aztecs found that they looked like turquoise stones, and in ancient Lithuanian songs they were called amber scattering. After looking through smart books, we decided to collect the most interesting “tearful” facts.

Have you ever wondered why crying calms us down? Scientists have found that it is not the emotional release caused by sobbing that brings relief, but ... the chemical composition of tears. They contain stress hormones released by the brain at the time of the outburst of emotions. Lacrimal fluid removes substances from the body that are formed during nervous overstrain. After crying, a person feels calmer and even more cheerful.

For example, women cry more than men. Statistics say that a woman is able to cry out at a time from 3 to 5 milliliters of liquid, and a man - less than 3; Women cry 4 times more than men, with 50 percent doing so once a week. What is the reason? In biology, in the sentimentality of women? Or the size of the nose, as one anthropologist suggested? The smaller the nasal passages, the less tears flow through the nose. Science can now distinguish between physiological - reflex tears, necessary to moisten and cleanse the eyes (this is how mammals "cry"), and emotional tears, which usually occur in sadness and joy.

US biochemist William X. Frey chose tears as the focus of his research. He put forward a hypothesis, although not yet fully proven: “Tears, like other external secretory functions, remove toxic substances from the body that are formed during stress.” The Alter Rebbe, the founder of Chabad Hasidism, explains this phenomenon in a completely different way. In the book "Torah Or" (Chapter Vaishlach) he writes that tears are waste of the moisture of the brain. Bad news leads to contraction, the brain shrinks, and tears are released. Joy has the opposite effect - the blood supply to the brain increases, it increases Vital energy and a new intellectual opening takes place. If a person is ready for this, then an intellectual opening occurs, if not, then tension in the brain leads to contraction and release of tears. Anatomy says that there are special glands that release moisture at the behest of the brain. The Alter Rebbe claims that tears are the dregs of the brain. Naturally, these words should not be taken literally, it does not mean that if you take the brain and compress it, then the released liquid will be tears. We are talking about the fact that one of the consequences of brain compression is the process of release of tears. The connection of processes is described by the word garbage, that is, as a result of numerous processes, garbage appears. And the anatomy this moment it neither denies nor refutes.

Tears flowing from our eyes in moments of joy and sadness, in a state of stress or sacred love, relieve not only our body, but also our soul, help to cope with stress and, due to this, allow our heart to contain emotions. Data modern science they say that sometimes, when it becomes necessary, you need to cry and not be ashamed of your tears. Tears heal, tears bring back to life, tears wash and purify the soul.

Why are we crying? New theory

Today, scientists offer a new theory as to why a person cries - tears can act as a signal that a person’s physical and psychological protection from environmental negative factors is currently weakened and he is vulnerable. According to researcher Oren Hasson, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel, crying is a very highly developed human behavior. "My research suggests that tears are always a cry for help, a manifestation of affection for a person, and if it happens in a group, then they represent unity." Shedding tears for emotion is unique property human body. Previously, researchers have speculated that tears help flush out stress chemicals, or that they simply make you feel better, or that they allow young children to signal health problems. Now, Hasson points out that tears are nothing more than an antidote. aggressive behavior, this is a kind of signal of vulnerability, a strategy that brings a person closer to others on an emotional level. Hasson suggested using tears in building personal relationships between people. For example, as he points out, you can use tears to show an attacker that you are submissive, and therefore potentially induce his indulgence, if there is no other way out. Or get the attention of others and get their help. Also, Hasson adds that when several people cry, they show each other that they weaken their defenses in the same way, which, in turn, brings them very close on an emotional level, since people share the same feelings. The researcher notes that the effectiveness of this evolutionarily developing type of behavior always depends on who uses tears and under what circumstances. Naturally, in places like the workplace, where personal emotions are best hidden, this method can backfire.

A new study from Vanderbilt University has shown that women's hormonal cycles can not only make women more addicted to drugs, but also increase exposure to relapse triggers. The results obtained are especially important against the background of the fact that scientific papers demonstrating the relationship between these cycles and drug addiction have almost never been published.

Erin Calipari, Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Center for Addiction Research. Vanderbilda, notes that women are the most vulnerable group of the population, as they have a higher level of addiction to drugs. However, research related to drug addiction is mainly focused on the study of the mechanisms that occur in the male body. Her research has shown that when fertility-related hormones are high, women learn faster and become more reward-seeking.

“For women who have started taking drugs, the process of developing addiction can proceed according to a completely different scenario than for men. This is very important to know because we are talking about the first step in development effective methods treatment,” said Calipari.

The next step, she says, will be to determine exactly how hormonal shifts affect a woman's brain. The last stage is related to the development of drugs that could help overcome these changes. However, treatment centers can already use the information provided in this study to help women deal with relapses.

From the very beginning, scientists avoided using female animals in medical research, so they did not have to consider the influence of hormonal cycles. As a result, drug development often focuses on correcting dysfunction in men, which may explain why women often do not respond to available drugs or treatments, Calipari notes.

Her work was recently published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. In it, an experiment was conducted with the participation of male and female rats. As a result, scientists found that females are more dependent on drugs than males.

“There is epidemiological evidence that indicates that women are more vulnerable, but it is not clear what factors influence this. However, through research like this, we are beginning to isolate environment and physiological reasons,” Calipari added.

An experiment in mice showed that fatty acid propionate helps protect against the effects of high blood pressure, including atherosclerosis and heart tissue remodeling. Gut bacteria produce a substance that calms blood pressure-raising immune cells from natural dietary fiber.

“You are what you eat,” says one proverb. However, to a large extent, our well-being also depends on what the bacteria guests in our digestive tract consume. The fact is that the intestinal flora helps the human body to utilize food and produce useful trace elements, including vitamins.

Beneficial gut microbes are able to produce metabolites from dietary fiber, including a fatty acid called propionate. This substance protects against the harmful effects of high blood pressure. A Berlin research group from the Center for Experimental and Clinical Research (ECRC) has shown why this is happening. Their study was published in the journal Circulation.

The researchers gave propionate to mice with high blood pressure. After that, the animals showed less pronounced damage to the heart or abnormal expansion of the organ, which made them less susceptible to cardiac arrhythmias. Damage to blood vessels, known as atherosclerosis, has also been reduced. “Propionate helps fight a number of cardiovascular disorders caused by high blood pressure. This could be a promising treatment option, especially for patients who have too little of this fatty acid,” said research team leader Prof. Dominik N. Müller.

Bypass through the immune system

“Our study showed that this substance passes through immune system and thus directly affects the heart and blood vessels. In particular, T-helper cells, which increase inflammation and increase blood pressure, calmed down,” said Dr. Nicola Wilk and Hendrik Bartholomeus from ECRC.

This has a direct impact, for example, on the functionality of the heart. Research group induced cardiac arrhythmias in 70% of untreated mice with targeted electrical impulses. However, only one-fifth of the rodents given the fatty acid had irregular heartbeats. Further studies using ultrasound, tissue sections, and single-cell analyzes showed that propionate also reduced blood pressure-related cardiovascular damage in animals, significantly increasing animal survival.

But when the researchers deactivated a specific subtype of T cells in mice, known as regulatory T cells, the beneficial effects of propionate disappeared. Therefore, immune cells are indispensable for the beneficial effects of a substance on the body. A research team led by Johannes Stegbauer, an associate professor at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, confirmed the team's findings.

Short-chain fatty acid as a therapeutic option

The results explain why a diet rich in fiber, recommended by many nutritional organizations, helps prevent cardiovascular disease. Whole grains and fruits, for example, contain cellulose and inulin fibers, from which gut bacteria produce beneficial molecules such as propionate and a short-chain fatty acid with a backbone of just three carbons.