What is the purpose of actually having tears when we are sad? We lose salt and water but how does that help us?
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Things like crying, laughing, wincing, making angry faces, blushing/embarrassed faces are all forms for non-verbal communication.
The theory is that these forms of communication were crucial to our ancestors who lived in social groups but hadn’t developed language yet, you need ways to communicate some kind of information to keep that social group functioning/together.
Tears themselves are meant to protect and keep our eyes healthy.
So it’s likely a “happy accident” that when we cry we can force more tears out, that help signal to those around us that we are in some kind of distress.
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