Retaining Gains Through Low GH-Related Sleep Deficiency

[Michael Seeley]

Degraded and disrupted sleep cycle is fairly common in we older lifters. At 54, I've made the best gains of my life on SS (LP first, "GreySteel Texas Method" past 3 months). The "good" news is that my doc and I understand my sleep problem very well. I have clinically low GH (based on IGF-1 testing). There's a strong correlation with this condition and disrupted sleep. It's a knife fight, getting enough zzz's, and for weeks at a time, I will lose. No easy answers.

Enough of the sob story, to the question...

Dear Coaches, What's my best strategy for keeping my modest, but hard-earned strength gains during these rough patches?

Profile: 54 y/o male, 197#, 5' 11"
Press: 170 (single)
Bench: 260 (single)
Deadlift: 385 x 5 (latest "intensity" day set)
Squat: 330 x 5 (ditto)

Grateful,
Mike

[Michael Wolf]

Those are some excellent numbers for your age, size, and relatively short length of training career. Since you already know about your sleep issue, and it sounds like doing what is possible to address it, I'd say the best thing you can do is make sure all your other recovery parameters are in order. Nutrition, and as little extra stress as possible. Also make sure you're taking appropriate jumps, resting enough between sets, and some caffeine pre-workout may not hurt either.

[Steve Hill]

Damn, I was preparing a huge response to this and Wolf beat me to the punch.

So I’ll delete the exact things that The Bear Jew posted for his recommendations, and instead pontificate on GH and sleep, based on my VERY limited understanding.

First, I am not sure that low GH results in sleep insufficiency. I *think*, IIRC, that low GH *and* sleep insufficiency are cause by an insuficiency of GHRH (Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone) which is also known as SOMAtocrinin. Fun, huh? And GHRH, which stimulates the release of GH, also:

”Studies in normal human subjects and animals suggest that the neuropeptide growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is a common regulator of the sleep EEG and nocturnal hormone secretion. In healthy volunteers GHRH prompts an increase in the amount of slow wave sleep (SWS) and in growth hormone (GH) secretion and blunting of cortisol release. Inhibition of GHRH may contribute to sleep-endocrine aberrances during depression.”

Cortisol, we also know, results from several things, one of which is stress / anxiety - and boy do I know that from all-to-painful and personal experience (ASK ME HOW I LOST 40# in one month!!!). Actually, no, don’t. BUT, the important take-away here is that stress / sleep disorder help to form a vicious circle in which GHRH does not get released, sleep does not get regulated, and GH does not get produced.

I think you need to reduce stress, and maybe see a sleep specialist.

Austin will swing by in a minute to 45 days to tell me where I fucked this up.

[Michael Wolf]

Damn, I was preparing a huge response to this and Wolf beat me to the punch.

So I’ll delete the exact things that The Bear Jew posted for his recommendations, and instead pontificate on GH and sleep, based on my VERY limited understanding.

The Bear Jew abides.

Austin will swing by in a minute to 45 days to tell me where I fucked this up.[/FONT][/COLOR]

Ya, I didn't address those things because I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough about them. If we don't hear from Austin by the Ides of March, we'll send a raven.

[Michael Seeley]

Thank you Gentlemen, informative and entertaining. :-)

Michael, I should have included in my original post: 200 grams of high quality protein daily (3500-4000 Cal) and at least resting 8 minutes between sets.

Steve, you described the condition more accurately than I. I just started nightly injections of CJC 1295 (a peptide that emulates GHRH). Sermoreline (same family) worked well for me, but I developed an allergy to it. Interestingly, IGF-1 did not improve on the latter. But I slept better.

Despite a rocky two weeks of sleep, I still hit new 5-rep PRs yesterday. So...this S**T works! Even under less than greenhouse conditions.

Thanks again!
Mike

[Steve Hill]

I still maintain, as does Rip, that sleep is in a lot of cases over-rated. While I do not like n=1 argumentation, I was able to maintain a 40-50/wk job, train both in the gym and on a bicycle for an additional 12-20/wk, and make progress on my lifts, with the exception that it was slower due to the heavy workload from cycling. On 5 hours a night on weeknights, and 6-7 on weekends.