How to Naturally Boost Human Growth Hormone (HGH)
Also referred to as growth hormone (GH), the human growth hormone is a vital hormone produced by the pituitary glands. It is responsible for growth, cell repair, metabolism, and body composition. Besides, it boosts strength, exercise performance, and muscle growth during your recovery journey from disease and injury.
The effects of low HGH levels include decreased life quality, fat gain, and increased risk of contracting diseases. It is therefore important to maintain optimal levels especially during athletic training, weight loss, and injury recovery.
Scientific research indicates that your lifestyle and diet greatly impact your HGH levels. Here are some of the ways you can use to boost HGH levels and ensure optimal functioning of body processes:
The Body Fat Needs to Go
The amount of belly fat you have and HGH production are directly linked. People with large amounts of belly fats are more likely to have weakened HGH production and a higher risk of contracting disease compared to those with low belly fat levels.
A study found that those with thrice the amount of the control group’s belly fat had less than half of their HGH levels. Another monitored HGH release for 24 hours and observed a huge decrease in people with more belly fat. Even though research shows that it is mostly in men where HGH levels are affected by excess abdominal fat, it is imperative for both genders to lower their body fat.
Worth noting is the act that obese people have low HGH levels but upon losing a good amount of their belly fat, the levels return to normal. In summary, body fat is the most life-threatening form of stored fat and can result in several diseases. Belly fat is stubborn and losing it requires willpower but when it is done, your HGH levels will be optimized and your health will improve.
Intermittent Fasting
Studies indicate that fasting can help boost your HGH levels. One such study found that after a 3-day fast, your HGH levels increase by more than 300%. A week later, they go up by a whopping 1,250%.
Because continuous fasting is just short-term, intermittent fasting is a more preferable approach. When you are fasting intermittently, you stay away from food for short periods. There are many options available. Usually, you fast for 16 hours with an 8-hour feeding window daily. Another option is consuming at least 500 calories in two days each week.
There are two ways in which this type of fasting can optimize levels of HGH in your body. First, it helps you get rid of body fat which has a direct impact on HGH production. Second, it suppresses insulin levels as during eating, your pancreas secretes insulin. High insulin production is known to disrupt the production of growth hormone.
Studies compared HGH levels on eating and fasting days and there were huge disparities. Although shorter fasts will likely help, research ought to be done to compare their impacts with longer-hour fasts.
Cut on Sugar
As already mentioned, spikes in insulin are linked to lower levels of HGH. Seeing that sugar and refined carbs increase insulin levels, reducing your intake helps optimize the levels of the growth hormone.
A study observed that the levels of HGH in healthy people was at least three times higher than in diabetic people. Besides affecting insulin levels, heavy sugar intake is a cause of weight gain and obesity all of which affect your HGH levels.
Ensure you feed on a healthy diet because whatever you consume will affect your health, body composition, and hormones.
High-Intensity Workout
Exercising at high intensity helps boost your HGH levels although this will depend entirely on the form of exercise, its intensity, your food intake as you work out, and your body’s traits. Although all types of exercises are recommended, high-intensity exercises do more in increasing your HGH levels. You can try out repeated sprints, weight training, circuit training, or interval training if you want to see a spike in the levels of human growth hormone and lose fat.
Getting Enough Sleep
Your hours of sleep are crucial for the optimum functioning of body processes. During sleep, HGH is released in pulses. The largest of them all occur just before midnight while the smaller pulses occur early in the morning. According to studies, short sleeping hours lower HGH production by your body. Here are some tips to help you get enough sleep:
- Avoid caffeine in the late evenings
- Ensure your bedroom is at a favorable temperature
- Read a magazine or book late in the day.
Getting 7 to 10 hours of sleep every night helps optimize HGH levels.
Finding the Right Hormone Doctor in Los Angeles
At Youplushealth we have specialists in the field of anti-aging medicine. As you age, your body’s health and functionality decline. Luckily for you, hormone imbalances-which are reversible, are the cause of many of these changes. After assessing you, our hormone doctor in Los Angeles will find a treatment plan for you. Visit us for hormone replacement therapy in Los Angeles.