THE EFFECT OF GH ON THE BRAIN
Although growth hormone is made in the brain, it is only recently that scientists have discovered that it has a powerful effect on the brain as well as the body. Some researchers believe that the fall in growth hormone levels with age may account for the shrinking of the brain with age and that giving HGH may regrow the brain. It also appears to protect brain cells from injury and oxygen deprivation, such as that which occurs with stroke. And a groundbreaking discovery by Bengtsson and his group in Sweden shows why growth hormone may be nature’s Prozac. Let’s take a look at each of the mental functions affected by growth hormone.
Because it works at the cellular level, hgh affects brain tissue and is also able to offer beneficial effects for nerve tissue. Hgh brings about marvelous effects on other parts of the body – promoting repair, stopping or reversing shrinkage in organs, and so on.
GROWTH HORMONE RESTORES WELL-BEING
Do you love life? Do you wake up in the morning with a delicious sense of anticipation, wondering what the day will bring? Do you have a sense of expanding horizons, a sense that you could do things you’ve never done before, start a new business, change careers, travel to strange and exotic places, go back to school for an advanced degree? Do you feel that you have the energy, enthusiasm, and passion required to live life to the hilt? If your response to these questions was not an immediate unqualified yes, then think back to when you were a child or a teenager or a young adult. Didn’t you used to feel this way? One of the things that happens with age is that there is a subtle diminishment in our joy of life. We lose our resilience, our ability to bounce right back after something happens the way that kids do. We become more wary, less willing to try something new whether it is a food or a person or a prospective lover. We feel that it takes too much energy, too much effort. It’s so much easier to stay at home at night, zone out in front of the TV, think about cutting back on work or retiring altogether.
For centuries philosophers have debated the mind-body aspect of our existence. At present science marshals an immense body of evidence to show that we – our minds, our personalities, our identities – all tend to derive from the existence, structure, and biochemistry of the brain.
Growth hormone not only regrows organs and restores bodily function, it reinvigorates the mind, reversing the attitudes, outlook, and expectations associated with aging. You feel more energetic, sexier, and better-looking, and suddenly there is a whole new gestalt: “I’m not old anymore.” It is similar to what happens when people who are unhappy with their appearance get plastic surgery. The psychological high that they get is even greater than the lift from the nose bob, ear trim, or tummy tuck.
In the same way that HGH powers brain neuron growth during early childhood, it is likely able to help the brain cells (neurons) divide and repair themselves. Each neuron in the brain has multiple branching extensions called dendrites. These dendrites have multiple endings called synapses. As we age, these dendrites and synapses will die gradually die off.
Dendrites are the nerve connections of the neurons, along which the electrical currents travel, in the brain. Loss of these dendritic connections are the main cause of age related memory loss, so say neuroscientists. But in many tests done on lab mice, it has been found that aged mice whose brains were stimulated with growth hormone, could perform many tasks which “normal” rats could not do.
The results usually indicate HGH being closely linked to memory and cognitive ability. By measuring IGF-1 levels of people with poor memory function and IQ, it was found that they had low levels of it. IGF-1 is directly related to HGH, so the conclusion would be:
- Lower HGH levels = Lower mental ability
- Higher HGH levels = Higher mental ability and functioning
Scientists also found the growth hormone injections changed the concentration of certain neurotransmitters (brain chemical messengers). It raised the level of B-endorphin, while it lowered dopamine. B-endorphin has been called the brain’s own morphine and is responsible for the “high” feeling that comes with intense exercise. Dopamine can produce feelings of agitation. The same effects, an increase in B-endorphin and decrease in dopamine, is seen in patients who are treated with antidepressants. In other words, it appears that growth hormone replacement has an antidepressive action on the human brain.
According to one patient, growth hormone was more effective in relieving his depression than Prozac was. If growth hormone has a natural antidepressant effect on the brain, it could be a major reason that we are so optimistic and resilient when we are young. With the decline of growth hormone activity with age, we not only lose muscle, bone, thymus tissue, body water, and cell division, we lose our joy of life. But with a program of growth hormone stimulation, we can have it all back again.
To date, the results of how hgh affects brain structure and function have all been positive. And although HGH has not led researchers to the holy grail of neural research the regeneration of neurons – it has shown many beneficial effects. Most importantly, HGH has shown that it may be effective in helping us to maintain our identity, to remain who we have always been as we go through the aging process.
