Health and Fitness

Optimize Your Growth Hormone Levels With 6 Healthy Lifestyle Choices.

If you are experiencing an increase in waist size, a decrease in libido, and feelings of anxiety or depression, it may indicate an imbalance in your GH.

Hormones are crucial in the process of maintaining muscle mass and keeping a healthy weight. They also determine the amount of visceral fat in the body. Excess visceral fat can pose a significant health risk.

One hormone, in particular, growth hormone (GH), makes a critical impact on metabolism and body composition. GH plays a critical role in our physical and mental health, especially in lowering visceral fat, improving lean muscles, and boosting mood.

Contrary to popular belief, injecting GH for longevity purposes is unnecessary unless you have specific health conditions. It is possible to naturally increase GH levels through healthy lifestyle habits that I introduce in this post with examples.

Using exogenous GH supplements carries several risks and should be approached with caution and support from qualified healthcare professionals when needed.

In many countries, GH injection is heavily regulated due to known health concerns. Additionally, exogenous GH supplements can be expensive, making them a potentially less feasible option for low-income individuals.

There are numerous herbal and other supplements available on the market that claim to support growth hormone production and function. I have reviewed several of these products and tried some of them decades ago.

While I tried arginine and found it helpful, I ultimately discontinued its use due to side effects after implementing a customized diet that provided ample amounts of arginine. However, I continued to use citrulline malate, which has been shown to increase both GH and nitric oxide levels.

Previously, I focused on the complex effects of various hormones on metabolism. In this article, I highlight the importance of GH and provide practical tips for naturally increasing this vital hormone. I have been investigating the health implications of GH for over two decades.

What is the human growth hormone?

The human growth hormone (GH) is produced by the pituitary gland, which is often referred to as the “master gland” in the brain because it produces and regulates several hormones.

After being produced by the pituitary gland, GH is released into the bloodstream in pulses, with the highest levels occurring during deep sleep.

The secretion of GH is affected by various factors, like age, sex, body mass index, and the amount of adipose tissue.

In addition to children, adults also need an adequate amount of GH for various bodily functions. The deficiency can adversely affect both children and adults at any age.

Typical deficiency symptoms for adults include increased visceral fat, decreased muscle mass, diminished bone density, reduced libido, mental health issues such as anxiety or depression, and a weaker immune system.

Correcting deficiency may bring numerous health and fitness benefits. Healthcare professionals can diagnose deficiency through blood tests, such as the GH serum test, GH stimulation test, GH suppression test, and test for insulin-like growth factor-1.

Like other hormones, the production of GH decreases as we age. Low levels of GH have been linked to various health issues in adults. The link between GH and body composition is well established.

Fortunately, there are several ways that adults can optimize their GH levels through healthy lifestyle choices that I cover in the following sections with practical tips.

Here’s how to optimize your growth hormone levels with healthy 6 lifestyle choices.

This section provides several evidence-based strategies for naturally increasing growth hormone (GH) levels. Each strategy is accompanied by credible sources and links to my previously published articles.

1 — Get restorative sleep nightly and recover timely with rest.

There is significant evidence for increased growth hormone during restful and restorative sleep. For example, this paper informs that “the nocturnal growth hormone surge is largely sleep-dependent.”

This study confirmed that “altered hypothalamic activity associated with the initiation of sleep resulted in a major peak of growth hormone secretion unrelated to hypoglycemia or cortisol and insulin secretion changes.”

Understanding the role of circadian rhythm in releasing growth hormones was an eye-opener for me. Like many people, sleep was my first choice to optimize my growth hormone. It is much easier than the other options that I cover in the following sections.

When I increased my sleep from six to eight hours, I noticed a significant improvement in GH, which increased my muscle mass and decreased visceral fat. In addition, my mood significantly increased, and I felt much younger than before.

I wrote numerous articles about the importance of sleep for metabolic and mental health. For example, a friend lost 44 pounds and kept his lean muscles after fixing his sleep issue.

2 — Move the body regularly and intensify your workouts gradually.

Enhancing athletic performance with optimal growth hormone levels has long been studied. Strenuous exercise, particularly high-intensity interval training (HIIT), can increase GH production by around 12 hours, as documented in this paper.

An experimental study investigating young men indicated that “the magnitude of GH release rose linearly with increasing exercise intensity.”

HIIT involves short bursts of intense activity followed by rest periods. Examples of HIIT exercises include sprinting, cycling, and weightlifting.

This paper in the Journal of Applied Physiology informs that “GH response to acute exercise has been studied extensively, with most investigators reporting that acute bouts of exercise increase the plasma concentration of GH.”

Like HIIT, resistance training in the form of weightlifting and calisthenics can also increase GH production. A 2022 study published on Experimental Physiology confirmed it.

The critical point is to recover after HIIT and resistance training before starting the next session, as oxidative stress and inflammation can lower GH production and secretion. I explained this in subsequent sections.

Keep in mind that the primary function of growth hormone is to support the growth and maintenance of healthy tissues, as well as repair damaged tissues. This point is especially important following intense physical activity or injury.

3 — Perform time-restricted eating or long-term fasting.

In 1988, a scientific paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation caught my attention due to its findings on the effects of fasting on increasing growth hormone levels.

The paper informed that “acute nutritional status plays a significant role in the spontaneous pulsatile secretion of GH in humans. Fasting enhances GH release through changes in both frequencies and amplitude. These alterations in somatotropic hormone release may help to maintain substrate homeostasis during times of calorie restriction.”

Upon further reviews of multiple studies in the field, I was intrigued by the idea of fasting, not only because of its potential to increase GH levels but also due to its other benefits, such as autophagy and mitophagy, a process by which the body naturally clears out harmful bacteria, damaged cells, and other “garbage” from cells and mitochondria.

I began practicing intermittent fasting, consuming my food within an eight-hour window and remaining fasted for the remaining 16 hours. After several months, my body became fat-adapted, and in combination with a ketogenic diet and a fast-mimicking diet, my GH levels significantly increased.

I then intensified my experimentation with more extended periods of fasting, ranging from two to seven days, for several years. My GH levels increased significantly. When my family doctor teased if I was taking steroids, I replied, “as far as I know, GH is not a steroid but a peptide hormone that I naturally increase.”

To begin incorporating time-restricted eating into my own routine, I followed a few steps. First, I eliminated snacks and limited myself to three meals daily. Next, I skipped breakfast for several months. Finally, after becoming fat-adapted, I reduced my intake to just one meal per day.

I have continued to follow this routine for many years, and as a result, my GH levels are now multiple times higher than they were two decades ago.

Time-restricted eating has also optimized inflammation markers and improved my brain chemistry, particularly by increasing BDNF through ketosis, resulting in improved mental health with cognitive flexibility and emotional maturity.

4 — Refrain from junk food and get your nutrition from whole foods.

Lack of nutrition by eating empty calories affects all hormones. Therefore balanced nutrition from whole foods is believed to improve hormonal balance and optimization.

This paper informs that “There is evidence of the impact of overeating and being overweight on the secretion of growth hormone. It is known that both of these conditions are associated with hyperinsulinemia, which determines the possibility of its predominant role in suppressing the secretion of growth hormones.”

The literature has mixed views about fats and carbohydrates. According to this paper, “Growth hormone suppression by glucose occurs in about a third of patients with acromegaly, as well as in other disorders.”

Literature on proteins indicates that some amino acids can stimulate the production of GH by the pituitary gland and might also increase the sensitivity of tissues to GH. Therefore, consuming bioavailable proteins from whole food can help optimize GH.

5 — Reduce oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.

Chronic and oxidative stress can negatively impact GH production and might lead to decreased levels of GH in the body.

Oxidative stress can damage the pituitary gland, which is responsible for producing GH. This damage may impair GH production and secretion.

Oxidative stress may disrupt signaling pathways that are necessary for GH production. These pathways activate various hormones and enzymes that can stimulate producing GH.

Oxidative stress may also increase inflammation, which can further disrupt GH production. Chronic inflammation can suppress GH production by inflammatory cytokines, like interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

Thus, chronic inflammation can disrupt the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis and increase oxidative stress. It is a complex system regulating the body’s response to stress. It comprises the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands that affect GH.

Therefore, it is critical to lower oxidative stress and excessive inflammation in the body. I provided nine steps to reduce chronic inflammation with healthy lifestyle choices.

6 — Avoid toxins, excessive alcohol, tobacco, and drug use.

Toxins, excessive alcohol, tobacco smoking, drugs, and some medications can disrupt GH production and lead to decreased levels of GH in the body.

Exposure to environmental toxins can disrupt GH production and lead to decreased levels of GH in the body. These toxins can damage the pituitary gland and impair signaling pathways that are necessary for GH production. They can also increase oxidative stress and inflammation.

Excessive alcohol consumption can impair the function of the pituitary gland, disrupt the HPA axis, and increase inflammation. Alcohol can also disrupt sleep, which is critical for GH production.

Tobacco smoke contains toxins that can damage the pituitary gland and disrupt the HPA axis, and increase inflammation. Like alcohol, nicotine can cause sleep disturbances.

Drugs can disrupt GH production and lead to decreased levels of GH in the body. In addition, some medications, such as opioids, corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, chemotherapy, and HIV prescriptions, might interrupt GH.

While certain medications may be necessary for managing specific health conditions, it is vital to be aware of their potential effects on GH production and to seek support from a qualified healthcare professional.

In addition, it is essential to refrain from self-medicating and avoid consuming unnecessary medications. More importantly, refraining from illegal drugs is crucial to optimizing GH production and overall health.

Summary

Growth hormone (GH) plays a crucial role in metabolism, including the reduction of visceral fat and the improvement of lean muscle mass.

GH is critical for children’s growth and essential for adult health. Exogenous GH supplementation carries significant risks and is regulated in many countries.

Nevertheless, it is possible to increase natural GH production through healthy lifestyle habits documented in this article.

You must consult healthcare professionals before making significant changes to your eating regimen and exercise routine, as fasting and intense exercises can create significant stress in the body and might not be suitable for your health conditions.

Key Takeaways of the Story

The following lifestyle factors can enhance the production and release of GH and improve physical and mental health. You can customize them based on your goals and needs.

1 — Get enough sleep and recover timely with adequate rest.

2 — Move your body regularly and intensify your workouts gradually.

3 — Perform time-restricted eating or long-term fasting.

4 — Refrain from junk food and get your nutrition from whole foods.

5 — Reduce oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.

6 — Avoid toxins, excessive alcohol, tobacco smoke, and drugs.

7 — Seek medical support if you have underlying health conditions impacting your growth hormone balance.

While medications can play a vital role in treating various health conditions, it is also necessary to consider and address lifestyle factors to balance hormones and neurotransmitters.

Let’s take this information and use it to make a meaningful difference in our own lives and the lives of those we care about.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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Sample Health Improvement Articles for New Readers

I write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.

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