You might think that whenever you cry, your tears are basically just salt water coming out of your eyes.

Not exactly. 👀

Your body can produce different types of tears depending on what's happening.

There are basal tears, which are always sitting on the surface of your eyes. Their job is to keep your eyes moist, provide protection and help keep the surface of your eyes healthy.

Then there are reflex tears.

These happen when something irritates your eyes — like cutting onions, getting dust in your eye or being exposed to something irritating. Your eyes basically go:

“GET THIS OUT OF HERE.” 😭

And then there are emotional tears, which happen when you're crying because of strong emotions like sadness, happiness, frustration or even being extremely overwhelmed.

What's interesting is that these different types of tears aren't produced for exactly the same reason, and their composition can vary.

So the tears you shed while watching an emotional movie aren't necessarily doing the exact same job as the tears your eyes produce when you're cutting onions.

Your eyes are actually running a pretty sophisticated little protection system.

Quick fact: Your eyes continuously produce tears to protect and lubricate them, while other tears can be triggered by irritation or strong emotions.