Human Growth Hormone and Sleep
One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to achieve optimal performance, energy and well-being is to neglect their sleep.
To the point that if you neglect sleep you can forget your pre/ post workout concoction, your green leafy veg at breakfast and counting your macro’s to get lean……..fail to address your sleep….forget results! There has actually been a number of papers that have identified a significant link between restricted sleep and susceptibility to overeating……
I wish health, performance, well being and improved body composition were as simple as move and train more, and eat less! Those who tell you that are delusional at best and probably eat pills for meals! If you could do it that way…..why would our nation be in the state it is…..
Unfortunately anyone who tells you this has been living in a cave for a long time!! Even those people who promote slimming shakes couldn’t fail on that one!
You see long term sleep deprivation and restriction of calories will mess with your hormones! Sleep can actually be prime fat burning time if your evening meal is before 7pm. If its much later than that then the body will be focusing on digestion and not and not repair. Leptin ( satiety hormone) resistance will kick in and levels of adrenaline during sleep go up……”restless legs”, insomnia etc…..
Another way to mess with your sleep quality is getting involved in emotional arguments, watching the news and trash talk on social media……do fun stuff before sleep 🙂
Hormones have a major role to play in the reduction of body fat, as part of an exercise and nutritional strategy. The key focus in the first part of this article are the Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and sleep. There are other key hormones involved such as testosterone, oestrogen and cortisol, but I will save them for a part deux of the article.
Firstly, it is important to understand what a hormone is……they don’t just make us moody!
‘ a chemical substance produced in an endocrine gland and transported in the blood to a certain tissue, on which it has a specific effect’
HGH is produced in the pituitary gland in the brain, and is sent to the liver to where IGF-1 is produced.
Now….IGF-1 (insulin like growth hormone) is required to repair your cells, aid brain function, enzyme production and improve bone strength.
This substance is mostly produced during the early hours of sleep (between 10pm and 2am), hence why getting to bed by 10pm most nights of the week is so important for your physical repair. My clients will have heard me talk about the importance of this many a time.
Researchers have actually attributed the decreased speed of healing and brain function to a decline, in middle age, of IGF-1 production. So if you want to stay awesome at Sudoku….get to bed earlier!
How to improve your natural levels of HGH
- Exercise for 30-40 minutes per day, with anything that is load bearing. Resistance training is best as it stimulates our bones to lay down calcium. In combination with some aerobic exercise to reduce body fat, this will help us to minimise oestrogen storage (this is where our fat is stored). The pull of the muscles on the bones at the tendon attachments helps to improve tendon and connective tissue strength, which helps in the prevention of injury and the elasticity of muscle fibres. Not every session by the way has to be FLAT OUT….infact it shouldn’t …..we find that 3 relatively hard and short sessions per week (40-60 mins) work really well and then the rest can be lower intensity, less structured.
- Secondly we can reduce caffeine and alcohol consumption, as these are known nutrient robbers! That’s a topic for another day, but vitamin B absortption in the gut is where I am going with that one.
- Research reported higher incidences of osteoporosis and hip fractures for those who consume alcohol and smoke. Now I am not for one minute saying you need to be a nun or live in a cave and only ever drink three times filtered water …but its fact that smoking and alcohol cause a loss of calcium, which is excreted in the urine.
- From an exercise point of view calcium is hugely important in the muscle contractions that lead to the shortening (concentric) phase of the muscle action. Calcium by the way is absorbed when vit D levels are optimised. That’s one of my next articles…..so make sure you are eating your oliy fish and getting in the sun when you can each day…..
- Never consume alcohol within 36 hours of a training session and certainly not within 36 hours post training!! One it will feel horrific and you might drop a weight on your face, or your bear crawl might become more of a worm crawl!
The next part of this short series on hormones and your health will include info on Leptin and Ghrelin……and why being slightly hungry might actually be your best friend and how snacking constantly might not be the best option either!
Catch you soon
Matt 🙂
Matt
Owner of Functionally Aware Fitness Personal Training
Voted The UK’s Most Innovative Fitness Entrepreneur 2012
International Best Selling Author of The Fad Free Fitness Formula
Author of The Hot to Trot Cook Book and The Equestrian Athlete Plan
Email: Info@fa-fitness.co.uk / Phone: 07841 136302
