HGH Levels And Sleep

In his play Macbeth, William Shakespeare referred to "sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care...balm of hurt minds...chief nourisher in life's feast." Shakespeare, as always, knew what he was talking about. Experts now believe that sleep is closely connected to health. In this article we will discuss how exactly the amount of sleep that you receive affects the release of human growth hormone, and what impact that has on your general state of health.

Sleep and Human Growth Hormone

Human growth hormone, or HGH, is generated by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. When we are children, we have high levels of HGH, which help us to grow and maintain our organs, muscles, and tissues into adulthood. However, by the time we are in our twenties, our HGH levels drop dramatically, until the level has declined to as much as fifteen percent of our original amount when we reach our sixties. Many experts believe that the decline in HGH leads to the adverse effects that we tend to associate with aging, including gray hair, wrinkles, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, lowered sex drive, insomnia, lessened focus and memory, brittle bones, and more vulnerability to disorders such as heart and liver disease, arthritis, and diabetes. Through exercise, healthy diet, and increased sleep, you can raise your HGH level no matter what age you might be.

HGH is not released at a steady, constant rate. Instead, it is produced in a pulsatile cycle; surges or pulses of the hormone are sent out from the pituitary gland at intervals of three to five hours every day. The highest level of HGH is released at night, about an hour after the individual falls asleep. That surge can be as high as 45 units of HGH per milliliter of blood, and it occurs between the third and fourth states of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is also known as slow wave sleep. It is one of the deepest levels of sleep. However, slow wave sleep becomes more difficult to achieve as we grow older � which likewise, as an expert explains, makes it more difficult for us to experience a nightly surge of HGH.

An article from 1991 concludes, "the nocturnal growth hormone surge is largely sleep-dependent." In other words, the amount of sleep that you get and how well you sleep determines how much HGH is generated and secreted every night. If you lack sleep, you will not experience any surge of hormone at all, experts argue, and since the base level of hormone secretion without increase can be as low as less than one percent of concentration in your blood, as one authority claims, you may instead begin to experience adverse effects on your health and energy.

Consequences of Sleep Deprivation

One expert even argues that studies show that lack of sleep can contribute strongly to an individual being overweight or obese. This is because when you are experiencing a lack of sleep, you look for a source of energy that is quick and effective to keep you going. Therefore, you tend to consume more carbohydrates. However, too much carbohydrate consumption can lead to lower hormone levels and higher insulin levels, which are not as healthy in the long term. Another source claims that poor sleep habits can also lead to a greater risk of both type 2 diabetes and heart attacks.

Sleep by Artificial Means

In a 1997 article, researchers studied the effect of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) on stimulating both slow wave sleep and HGH secretion. GHB is an acid produced in the central nervous system of human beings, a source explains, and it can be used to treat conditions such as alcoholism, clinical depression, and both insomnia and narcolepsy, and to improve the performance of athletes. However, it is widely regulated, and is even illegal in a number of countries, because, among other reasons, it can be used as an intoxicant and a date rape drug. However, in the 1997 study researchers concluded that "there was a doubling of GH secretion, resulting from an increase of the amplitude and the duration of the first GH pulse after sleep onset. This stimulation of GH secretion was significantly correlated to a simultaneous increase in the amount of sleep stage IV," or slow wave sleep. In other words, GHB not only causes a greater amount of HGH to be secreted, it can at the same time put an individual into a deeper slow wave sleep state. But because of the restrictions on this drug, more studies must be done before this can be considered a safe and effective way to give people deep and restful sleep while increasing their HGH levels.

If you get enough sleep, you will have more energy, and the increase in your HGH levels that a good night's rest provides can better help you maintain your cells, organs and tissues, lose weight, boost metabolism, keep mental focus, and generally look and feel healthier. Sleep really can relieve your cares, ease your mind, and nourish your body, as Shakespeare says, so try to make it a regular part of your life.

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