Why Growth Hormone Matters During Stress

The human body possesses an amazing system called the nervous system. This complex mechanism is responsible for transmitting information back and forth between the body and the brain.

Inside this communication system, reside an important structure called the autonomic nervous system. and it can be compared to the “brain” that regulates and controls the body’s internal organs, without making conscious efforts.

The ANS in itself is divided into two parts called The Parasympathetic system, And the Sympathetic system. While each is important by itself, both are needed for a balanced and healthy body. And the reason is that The Parasympathetic is responsible for keeping the body functioning normally and keeping it safe and restful, and the Sympathetic -also known as the Fight or Flight system- is responsible for the body’s ability to react to stress and danger.

Suppose you are in the Africain Savanna and you are face to face with a lion or any other dangerous animal that can put your life at risk. In this kind of situation, you ought to have a very healthy and functioning Sympathetic system so that you can flee or fight the animal. However, in our day to day life, we are not casually chased by lions, but we sure do get exposed to stressful situations. Which activates the fight or flight mechanism and leaves us with high levels of adrenaline and cortisol in our bloodstream. Yet, producing too much stress hormones daily is “harmful”. And the reason is that cortisol is a catabolic hormone, it breakdown muscle and feeds out of proteins that are supposed to support the body in various ways such as building muscle, sustaining a healthy immune system, support the neurotransmitters, and also hormone production. And as a result, having too much cortisol can lead to experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, muscle loss, weight gain, and belly fat.

But hope is not yet lost, as described earlier, our body has another system that can switch off the stress response and help the body regain control, which is the parasympathetic system. This system uses hormones such as Growth Hormones (GH) and Insulin-like-Growth Hormones (IGF) to make the body balanced again.

To understand more the correlation between GH and cortisol, think of them as a swirling seesaw when one is up, the other is down, and so on. The point is to reach a balanced level of the both hormones in your body.

So let’s talk about how you can strengthen your parasympathetic system and GH.

There are three ways G.H. can be secreted: when you are exercising, fasting, or sleeping. And in order to have more GH in your body, you should combine these three tips in your routine.

Sprinting and Weight lifting is among the type of exercises that can help to release Growth Hormone, but exercise based on your body type and how much you can handle. Because you should let your body recover after an intense workout. And when it comes to sleep, you should have not only a good quantity of sleep but also a better quality of sleep.

Note that, we are not advocating to take GH as a supplement, we are simply saying that you should support your body to produces a sufficient amount of GH.

This article was written by Adnane Mansour & Maha Saied