Sleeping and exercise both produce growth hormone. Not getting enough sleep and exercise can inhibit these hormones, causing a growth hormone deficiency. Not only will you feel more tired and have difficulty completing tasks from a lack of deep sleep, but you may also not achieve your full growth potential.
Benefits
Human growth hormone plays key roles in human growth, muscle and bone development along with fat metabolism. Human growth hormone follows your circadian rhythms, and its release is affected by sleep and exercise. High impact exercise that keeps your heart rate at your target heart rate for at least 10 minutes can help promote stage three deep slow-wave sleep cycles, initiating the release of human growth hormone. This can affect how tall and strong you will be.
Considerations
If your child is getting plenty of sleep and exercise, and you feel they are still not growing as they should, you need to speak with your child's doctor. Your doctor can check your child's growth pattern, and if they are not growing as they should, your doctor may elect to begin growth hormone shots. This is a synthetic growth hormone that can help replace the missing growth hormone. Many children grow at a rate of 3 to 4 inches per year with synthetic growth hormone injections.
Significance
Endurance athletes who exercise at high intensity levels for long periods of time tend to increase the release of human growth hormone at rest, increasing the levels over a 24-hour time period. This has resulted in the abuse of injectable synthetic growth hormones by young athletes attempting to mimic the growth hormone benefits . This has resulted in a ban on synthetic growth hormone use; however, young athletes continue to obtain and use it. Side effects can include diabetes, and joint pain in the short term; however, long term side effects are yet to be determined and reported on.
Tips
The best way to obtain human growth hormone is to get plenty of high intensity exercise, and to sleep. Regular sleep of at least seven to 10 hours nightly, along with endurance exercising such as running, cycling, swimming, and cross-country skiing provide the intense heart raising exercise necessary to obtain the release of the growth hormone from the pituitary gland. Going to bed each night at the same time and getting up at the same time each morning provides continuity to maintain circadian rhythms, promoting the deep, slow wave sleep crucial to optimal growth.
References
- "Sports Medicine"; The Exercise Growth Hormone Response in Athletes; R. J. Godfrey, et al.; 2003
- Huffington Post; How Exercise Enables Sleep; Dr. Qanta Ahmed; Feb. 26, 2010
- TeensHealth from Nemours: Growth Problems
- "Pediatric Clinicians of North America"; Abuse of Growth Hormone Among Young Athletes; S.R. Buzzini; August 2007
