Human growth hormone is a peculiar hormone, while it’s known to be anabolic in nature and is involved in cell growth and regeneration, yet it is also a pivotal fat loss hormone that is required to increase the use of fatty acids as a fuel source during times of fasting.
Typically, when we talk about ways to increase GH levels we discuss fasting and sleep and exercise, however temperature can also play important roles in increasing GH levels.
Growth Hormone is known to increase following endurance and resistance training workouts in both men and women, young and old.
And, while the role that growth hormone plays in muscle growth remains in debate, its role in fat loss is undeniable.
GH release is an ESSENTIAL part of your body’s ability to mobilize your body fat stores so they can be used as fuel.
Interestingly, regardless of exercise intensity, exercising in the cold has been shown to reduce and delay the typical GH response to exercise, leading to the speculation that the increase in core temperature may be the more important regulator of growth hormone release.
Also people who are Highly Heat Tolerant tend to have an exercise induced increase in growth hormone that is significantly more pronounced than people who are not as heat tolerant.
Based on this, it seems that the heat created by exercise may be what initiated the increase in Growth Hormone levels.
In fact, Heat alone is able to increase Growth Hormone levels as shown with the GH response to Sauna use. Interestingly, this effect is more pronounced in younger people, but is still evident in older populations.
Also acute cold exposure created by sitting in a 10 degree (50 Fahrenheit) room for 2 hours caused an 87% decrease in Growth Hormone levels, suggesting that cold exposure alone can decrease GH levels.
This is important because it suggests that heat may be an interesting way for people who cannot exercise to still increase their Growth Hormones periodically throughout the week.
Instead of exercising with enough intensity to raise GH levels 3 to 4 times per week, people who cannot exercise could attempt to sauna 3 to 4 times per week to get an occasional spike in Growth Hormone levels.
Finally, I think it’s really important to note how cold exposure can blunt the GH release caused by exercise, raising questions about the use of cold baths post exercise.
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Leppäluoto J, Korhonen I, Huttunen P, Hassi J. Serum levels of thyroid and adrenal hormones, testosterone, TSH, LH, GH and prolactin in men after a 2-h stay in a cold room. Acta Physiol Scand. 1988 Apr;132(4):543-8.
Wheldon A, Savine RL, Sönksen PH, Holt RI. Exercising in the cold inhibits growth hormone secretion by reducing the rise in core body temperature. Growth Horm IGF Res. 2006 Apr;16(2):125-31.
Niess AM, Feherenbach E, Roecker K, Lehmann R, Opavsky L, Dickhuth HH. Individual differences in self-reported heat tolerance. Is there a link to the cardiocirculatory, thermoregulatory and hormonal response to endurance exercise in heat? J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2003 Sep;43(3):386-92.
Leppäluoto J, Tapanainen P, Knip M. Heat exposure elevates plasma immunoreactive growth hormone-releasing hormone levels in man. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1987 Nov;65(5):1035-8.