Saline Tears – Amazing facts of Human Tears
(Salinity of Tears)
Saline Tears – Natural Protection of Human Eyes – Why tears of human eye taste salty? Presence of salts in Human Eye and its functions.
When we feel extremely happy or sad, or maybe then we’re just chopping onions, we shed tears. Also, to be honest, I’m sure, all of us must have tasted these tears. To my surprise, this brings me to a question that why do ours tears have salty taste? Why are our tears salty? let’s first understand that what are tears exactly made of and what are the types of tears?
Types of Tears
There are different types of tears. Human eyes are one among the most striking adaptations of our body. It help us to see and the way our eyes keep themselves safe is also very remarkable. Eye blinks a lot so that our eyes do not get dry. It is very important for us to keep our eyes moist. Each time we close our eyelids, a thin layer of lacrimal fluid spread over the surface of the eye.
The first type of tears are Basal tears. Compositions of Basal tears are water, lipids, mucin, immunoglobulins, sodium and potassium etc. The other substances includes a range of antioxidants like ascorbate. Components of Basal tears are of the purpose to protect the eye from foreign pathogens and bacterial contamination.
The Second type of tears are refers to as Reflex tears. The name itself implies that they form in response to an intense external stimuli.
Chopping onions, touching eye after slicing up pepper, etc reflects tears form to flush out the offending stimuli. The irritants that can trigger such reflex tears may also do so through the mucous membranes, the nose or mouth, all of which are linked through the same defensive mechanism of tears for rapid cleansing.
The third categories of tears are Psychic tears. These tears generated through intense emotions like happiness, grief, exhaustion and so on.
Amazing facts of Human Tears
We will be amazed to know that the pathway by which these emotional tears are generated is quite different and interesting. It is controlled by the limbic system of the brain, which affects the parasympathetic nervous system, releasing neurotransmitters that trigger the lacrimal gland to produce tears. It is not just the pathway of these tears, which is different, but the composition of these tears is also different when compared to Basal and Reflex deals. There is a much higher concentration of protein based hormones as well as a mild analgesic substance Anka Fallon, our natural painkiller. This says that not all the tears are same. If we look under a microscope, we’ll be able to identify the real emotional tears after the breakup or they’re just crocodile tears which are just not that real.
Saline Taste of Tears – Saline Tears
The answer of the big question that why are tears salty
Two of the most known, important electrolytes that we have in our body are potassium and sodium. Basal tears too consist of potassium and sodium. Eelectrolytes are natural salts that the body requires for a system function and the transfer of information between different nerve cells.
The most important electrolytes that we have in the body include potassium, sodium, calcium bicarbonate, phosphate and magnesium, amongst others. If we stick out our tongue to our tears , we get the taste of salt in it. This clearly indicates that how sensitive our taste really is. Roughly 98 percent of tears are of pure water, while the remaining 2% contain all the other substances and compounds that explained above. Yet even with such low level of salinity, our tears make the environment of our eyes unpleasant and hostile for bacterial growth.
Our tears often play the role of, as an extension of our immune system to keep our eyes safe, healthy and fine. Besides, human body has nearly 250 grams of salt in our body at all times. So it makes sense that this very natural fluid will also have some concentration of salt. The water in our body is inherently salty and it would require a lot of cellular energy to ensure that our tears were 100 percent pure water. A few other salts and ions found in tears helps in lubrication, protection and healing processes within the eye.
Other than the fact that we have different types of tears, it is amazing to know that how our body can find the exact way to produce these tears. The structure of Human body is really amazing.
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