Growth hormone (GH) is a fat-burning hormone produced by the brain. GH plays a crucial role in weight loss, muscle/bone growth, and metabolism. Unfortunately, this magical hormone peaks between age 20–30 and then drops 15% for every decade after. Luckily, if you know how to hack your way to increased growth hormone, even older adults can see the benefits of reduced body fat, increased muscle mass, and improved mood and cognition!
One thing to know is that growth hormone is temperamental.
Optimal production requires a combination of factors: adequate protein intake, deep sleep during the correct nighttime hours, the right type of physical exercise, and a firm handle on sugar and insulin.
While it is difficult to accurately test growth hormone in bloodwork, the related hormone IGF-I (insulin like growth factor) is more stable and can be easily tested to make sure it is in a good range. Getting a baseline number for this marker is a great way to know whether or not your interventions are working.
Growth hormone is released in bursts throughout the day, with the highest levels occurring during deep sleep (particularly between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM). If your sleep is broken or restless, it could tank your growth hormone production.
Growth hormone can also be increased with certain types of exercise (especially high intensity Intervals and weight training). Doing the right kind of exercise during the day should increase growth hormone production for two nights after (but only if you are getting into deep sleep).
Growth hormone is also supported by increased protein consumption (especially red meat and seafood or amino acid supplements of arginine, lysine, and ornithine). Intermittent fasting may also increase growth hormone production.
Factors that decrease growth hormone production include insulin (from dietary carbohydrates and sugars), estrogen, and cortisol (the stress hormone).
Ways To Hack Growth Hormone for Fat Burning
- Increase dietary protein – if you are fairly active, you should aim to get 0.5-1.2 g of protein per pound of body weight. if you weigh 160 pounds, this would mean getting 80-192 grams of protein a day. Aim to get at least 30% of this at your first meal.
- Decrease sugar and carbohydrates to reduce insulin – this is most important at night. Insulin spikes shortly before you go to sleep may prevent the majority of growth hormone production since it is so concentrated at night.
- Optimize sleep – the specific hours of the day you spend asleep may be just as important as the total number of hours. Ideally, women should be in deep sleep between 10 PM to 5 AM. Avoid looking at screens for two hours before bedtime. Keep your bedroom at a cooler temperature and make the room as dark as possible. For perimenopausal women, addressing progesterone deficiency or high cortisol may be necessary. Consider supplements like melatonin, magnesium, or inositol. The amino acid GABA can help with sleep and may directly increase growth hormone production.
- Consider intermittent fasting – there are several different ways to incorporate intermittent fasting but to start you may want to try the 16/8 method (fast for 16 hours and limit eating to an eight hour window during the day).
- Add HIIT high intensity interval training to your workout regimen – studies show that high intensity interval exercise (30 second sprint, four minute recovery, total exercise time 30 minutes) significantly increases growth hormone production the night after. The GH amount is much higher than no exercise, but even significantly higher than moderate exercise done for the same time.
- Add heavier weight training and resistance training – this type of exercise increases growth hormone production, muscle density (to increase metabolism), and increases testosterone for fat burning.
- Nutritional supplements – besides increasing total protein, supplementing specific amino acids (arginine, glutamine, GABA, tryptophan, lysine, ornithine) can help increase growth hormone. Zinc, vitamin D, and creatine can also help increase production.
Interested in discussing metabolic factors and comprehensive hormone testing for growth hormone, estrogen, cortisol, insulin, etc.?
Schedule a virtual appointment with Dr. Ilana Goldberg here:
