How does being sad/upset cause the body to cry and produce tears?

Question

I've heard that scientists don't know the answer to this one but I would love to hear your theories. or if you actually know the answer, hey! Even better!

Answer 1

o other animals cry as we do, not even our closest relative, the apes. As do other animals, apes have tear ducts but it is only for cleaning and bathing the eye. From a Dec. 06, article in Scientific American Mind, “genetic mutations evolved a neuronal connection between the gland that generates tears and the part of the brain that feels, senses and expresses deep emotion”. What prompted this genetic mutation is up for speculation but researchers seem to think that crying in the human being is a highly developed form of communication that signals pain or distress. It can be surmised that our ancestors had this form of communication to help them survive and even thrive because it bonded them together like no other animal. And according to the article, this allowed our species to emerge as “the most successful and congnitively complex of all the creatures on the planet”.

There are many reasons why we cry. It can be a simple signal of pain or distress, or a signal that the walls of our defenses are down. The intense emotion that accompanies our most vulnerable moment allow us to see each other as ‘human’. It boils all our experiences down to its most common denominator and we can ‘relate’. These are the tears that bind human communities together more successfully than may have been possible otherwise.

Answer 2

It is due to "adrenaline" tht controls the emotions,as u know being upset is an emotion.