What’s the ‘Lump’ in your throat before you start to cry?

Question

What’s the ‘Lump’ in your throat before you start to cry?

In: Biology

Answer 1

[Original Response](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16lpy7/eli5_what_is_the_lump_in_your_throat_feeling_you/c7x69i9/) by /u/skgggg

> The lump-like thing we feel when overcome by emotion has to do with how the nervous system deals with stress. The part of the nervous system that handles stress is called the autonomic nervous system. It controls bodily functions that we do not consciously control, such as digesting food and pumping blood through the heart. However, the autonomic nervous system is also important in dealing with emotional states.

> When an animal encounters a stressful situation, its autonomic nervous system kicks in to allow it to either fight or run away. It does this by increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the necessary muscles. The same applies to humans. Even when we experience emotions such as grief or sorrow, the autonomic nervous system responds as it would to anger or fear by increasing the flow of oxygen through the body.

> To increase oxygen intake, the autonomic nervous system makes us breath faster, and expands the glottis, the opening in the throat that allows air to flow from the larynx to the lungs. The expansion of the glottis in and of itself does not create a lumpy feeling, until we try to swallow. Since swallowing involves closing the glottis, this works against the muscles that open the glottis in response to crying. We experience the resulting muscle tension as a lump in the throat.

My LI5 version

> The lump-like thing we feel when we are sad or mad happens because a part of the throat gets bigger. (The part of the throat is called the glottis if you want to find out more)

> When we are sad or mad or scared our body knows there is something wrong. (Our body thinks that being sad or mad or scared is worse than being calm and happy like normal.) When our body thinks something is wrong is makes changes so we can fix whatever wrong like run away from danger or fight something that is attacking us.

> It can make lots of changes like pump more blood though our heart or breathe in more air. To breathe in more air a part of the throat gets bigger so there is more space to let the air in. You don’t feel it get bigger until you swallow. Swallowing closes it which is harder because it is bigger. The extra work you do to close it feels like a lump.