HGH & Intermittent Fasting: Can Fasting Increase HGH?

What Is HGH? | Intermittent Fasting and HGH | Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting

People follow intermittent fasting for weight loss, better health, detox, and stress relief. It is a diet type that alternates between periods of fasting and eating. It does not specify what food to eat but instead tells when to eat.

Intermittent fasting and human growth hormone (HGH) share a bond. In studies, it is a proven fact that fasting increases HGH that facilitates your tissue repair leading to fat breakdown and the release of fatty acids. Also, intermittent fasting acts as a stimulator of HGH production.

As our HGH levels decrease with aging, the HGH boost you get through fasting can bring significant health benefits. It helps you look youthful and also preserves your muscles. However, we recommend consulting your doctor if you have any underlying medical conditions before starting intermittent fasting.

Let us discuss how intermittent fasting affects your HGH level and what its benefits are.

What is HGH?

HGH, or human growth hormone, is a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland. It acts by either binding to hGH receptors or by inducing the production of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). It plays a vital role in growth in children and adolescents and helps in various metabolic functions throughout adult life.

High HGH levels result in increased lipolysis and lean body mass, reduced fat mass, and improved energy levels. In simple words, growth hormone protects your proteins, helps to build muscles, allows fat burning, and also has a tremendous anti-aging effect.

HGH is responsible for the growth of every tissue and organ in your body. It also suppresses the ability of insulin to stimulate the uptake of glucose in peripheral tissues. With an increased rate of gluconeogenesis in the liver, it is believed to build a defense against hypoglycemia.

Intermittent Fasting and HGH

As we age, HGH levels naturally decrease. This HGH deficiency in adults will lead to increased body fat and reduced lean body weight, bone health, and mass, which leads to various disorders like diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

Therefore, to naturally be able to cause surges in HGH, intermittent fasting plays an important role. You can expect to lose body fat after fasting and maintain lean muscle mass because growth hormone levels are likely to rise with intermittent fasting.

The research findings suggest that fasting preserves lean tissue and increases metabolic rates. Also, it does not change your metabolic resting rate and is beneficial for overall body composition. The reason for this is that it affects human growth hormones.

Studies have shown that fasting increases the amount of human growth hormone (HGH) that promotes tissue repair, fat breakdown, and the release of fatty acids as energy during fasting.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting With Increased Growth Hormone

As intermittent fasting triggers the level of HGH, it leads to various health benefits, such as;

1. Causes Fat Burning

Generally, your body is in metabolic condition when you wake up. There is low insulin, high human growth hormone (HGH), and high cortisol levels. So, early morning is your body’s optimal fat-burning state. The body goes into fat-storing mode as soon as you eat your first meal of the day, and insulin levels start rising.

After eating, high cortisol levels in the body cause a drop in blood glucose levels, making us feel hungry and challenging to regulate cravings throughout the day. However, intermittent fasting of 16 hours creates an optimal window for burning fats.

Moreover, when growth hormone levels, as seen during intermittent fasting, are high, metabolic activities of the body shift to fat-burning mode while retaining muscle mass. This metabolic shift is common to both men and women. It leads to more burning of fat and less burning of the required muscles from the body.

Some tips can help you achieve your weight loss goal from intermittent fasting. To know those tips read, Intermittent Fasting For Weight Loss: 7 Tips For Best Results.

2. Decreases Insulin Levels

Generally, we believe food increases our insulin level, and eating less is the only option to control this spike. But, during fasting, your body burns stored fat which results in reduced insulin levels.

Intermittent fasting triggers the production of HGH. It allows the usage of fats for energy and preserves muscle mass and bone density. Thus intermittent fasting stabilizes your insulin levels and is also believed to reverse insulin resistance.

To know more about how intermittent fasting benefits during diabetes, read Intermittent Fasting And Diabetes: Benefits And Risks.

3. Anti-aging Effect

As we age, HGH levels naturally decrease. There is also a gradual decrement and alteration in the pattern and production of GH secretion and IGF-1 (insulin growth factor), respectively.

In this way, the impaired activity of the growth hormone and insulin growth factor axis may underlie the various metabolic, biochemical, and functional changes that accompany aging and disease. This phenomenon is termed ‘somatopause’. It typically manifests as a reduction in bone and muscle mass and strength, increased fat mass, hyperlipidemia, arterial hypertension, cardiovascular disorders, and cognitive decline.

As discussed above, intermittent fasting stimulates HGH levels resulting in an anti-aging effect.

4. Increases Energy Levels

So far, we have been thinking that fasting makes us tired and less active. However, in the true sense, short-term fasting increases your endurance and helps you recover faster post-workout.

When intermittent fasting is combined with elevated HGH levels, it is believed to help in high-intensity training. Hence, fasting will keep your energy high, allowing you to be more active.

Bottom Line

Intermittent fasting is achievable and sustainable for humans. It is more in trend and popular nowadays. Both healthy and ill people gain health benefits from intermittent fasting, as it increases growth hormone levels significantly.

In addition, it’s not true that eating breakfast helps you have enough energy throughout the day. Intermittent fasting, when practiced regularly, can enhance metabolism and repair hormonal imbalances.
Want to learn more about intermittent fasting? Read, A Complete Guide To Intermittent Fasting + Daily Plan & Schedule.