Human Growth Hormone, IGF1, Sleep, Finasteride
Over the last few days I have been researching (albeit haphazardly) the effects of IGF1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) and HGH (human growth hormone). I have been researching how to naturally enhance the bodies ability to increase these things because of the correlation that was recently made in a study at the University of British Columbia between improved results from using finasteride, and higher levels of IGF1. I am only in the preliminary phase of my research, but one things is very clear, human growth hormone is a dual-edged sword and increased either naturally or via hormone injections. On the one hand increase growth hormone can have 'anti-aging' properties, but on the other hand it can increase the chances of getting cancer by causing increased cell-divisions that can cause damage to DNA. The negative aspects can be controlled by using anti-oxidants though.
So far, I have found in my research that L-Arganine (an amino acid) can stimulate the body to produce more HGH. I have read about other compounds that help with this as well. Eventually this will lead to a fine-tuning of my hair loss regimen (stay tuned). I want to do this and also start taking finasteride again to see if I get improved results as the study I talked about earlier seems to indicate.
Another interesting thing that I have learned while researching this topic is that the pituitary gland, which is responsible for releasing human growth hormone, is most active in the first 3 hours of sleep! Several weeks ago, I wrote a rant about sleep, and said that I was planning on trying to catch more of it to see if it helps with hair loss. I am more convinced than ever now that more sleep will indeed be useful. More sleep = more HGH + finasteride = more hair. Not to mention the other health benefits that go with it. And also, apparantly weightlifting also increases HGH output. If any of you know anything about HGH and how to increase it safely and naturally, please let me know either by emailing me or posting in the forums.
Cheers, Sam
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