When a mother laughs, her body releases ‘feel good’ chemicals into her circulation. This is believed to effect the quality of her breast milk! Laughter naturally increases the levels of breast-milk melatonin in mothers. It also increases natural killer cell activity where white blood cells are able to bind to certain tumor cells and virus-infected cells without the stimulation of antigen in blood and free radical-scavenging capacity in the saliva of healthy subjects. Melatonin is commonly involved with sleep, it has also been indicated in children who suffer from atopic eczema (AE or allergic eczema). According to the National Library of Medicine, melatonin may have important immunostimulatory actions in allergic diseases, in addition to its well-known antioxidant and cytoprotective effects in several inflammatory conditions. Patients who suffer from atopic eczema have lower levels of blood melatonin in comparison to healthy subjects. Thus, the effect of laughter on the levels of breast-milk melatonin has been studied in healthy mothers and mothers with AE. Moreover, the effect of feeding with breast milk after laughter on allergic responses in infants has been studied! Feeding infants with increased levels of melatonin-containing breast milk has demonstrated to reduce infantile allergic responses. Thus, laughter of mothers may be helpful in the treatment of infants with AE and perhaps other allergic conditions. This suggests that a mother’s well-being can directly influence and impact her infant: it is also a wonderful reminder to smile and laugh today.
Written by Student Doctor: Navpreet Singh Badesha ©08/26/2016 All Rights Reserved.
Photo Credit: Monet Nicole – Birthing Stories
This research on ’Laughter & Breast Milk Melatonin’ was published in the National Library of Medicine: Melatonin & Allergies.
