About the author: Dr. Maher is a postgraduate instructor for the New York Academy of Anti-Aging, which prepares doctors for their certification by the American Board of Anti-Aging Health Professionals through A4M. Call 1-888-354-6528 for more information.
What if you could burn fat without dieting or exercising; increase your muscle mass without exercise; improve your sexual drive and performance; enhance your athletic performance and endurance; have younger, tighter, thicker skin; eliminate cellulite; enjoy truly refreshing deep sleep; build stronger bones; alleviate menopause and male "andropause"; improve your cholesterol and triglyceride profiles; strengthen your heart while lowering blood pressure; improve your hair growth and texture; improve your mood, memory and concentration; strengthen your immune system; and likely add years to your life?
With human growth hormone (HGH) enhancements, you can. Over 28,000 medical studies say you can! Indeed, a 10-year study completed in June 1998 for the National Institute of Aging stated that the results with human growth hormone, also known as HGH, "are too good to be true!"
What is HGH?
Nestled in the center of our brains is the rather tiny but very powerful pituitary gland. HGH is one of seven hormones secreted by the pituitary. Growth hormone, like thyroid hormone, has an effect on almost all our tissues and organs. As the name implies, it enhances the growth of various organs and tissues, especially muscle and bone. Basically, human growth hormone increases protein synthesis. Proteins are the body's major building blocks. Normal secretion of HGH occurs in a daily cycle, like a tide. It varies with exercise, sleep, stress and nutrition.
Why Does HGH Enhancement Help?
As we hit middle age, there is a natural decline in the hormone production of HGH, estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, androstenedione and testosterone. With advancing age, an increase in the incidence of osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes, mood and memory disorders, loss of libido, etc. occurs. Central obesity also increases and muscles shrink. Scientific studies are demonstrating a causal relationship between the decline in hormone levels and an increased incidence of the aforementioned conditions. The exciting development is that by replacing these hormones, these developments can be reversed. Hormone replacement for estrogen, thyroid hormone and progesterone are commonplace. Is HGH next?
What's the Downside?
HGH was only used for children with certain growth disorders until the mid 1980s. It was extremely expensive, as the only source was human cadavers! Then recombinant DNA technology made it possible to engineer bacteria to produce HGH, but that was costly: treatmetn cost between $200-$300 per week, and you needed frequent blood tests ($100 plus each time) to monitor the proper dosage. You also had to give yourself shots twice a day, though these are more inconvenient than painful.
There is some debate as to whether HGH shots might stimulate cancer. Proponents counter that HGH actually builds the immune system, therefore likely helping to prevent cancer. The informed consensus seems to be that those with cancer should not have HGH shots, as it might also stimulate cancer growth.
Another concern is that HGH shots, as with any hormone replacement therapy regularly taken, tend to inhibit our own natural production. If you stop the shots, you could really "crash," having become dependent on an outside source of HGH.
Natural Human Growth Hormone Enhancements: the HGH Secretagogues
Fortunately for anti-aging enthusiasts, there are a variety of natural oral HGH enhancers that are much less expensive. Because they support, not replace, pituitary gland function, they don't "shut down" your own natural production. These are called secretagogues because they coax or support your own glands to secrete their own hormones, not replace them.
Which Secretagogues Are Best?
As the oral HGH enhancers (secretagogues) hit the market, caveat emptor!(buyer beware!) Most marketers will quote study results from HGH injections and then claim them for their own product! Here are some important questions to ask:
Do I Need to See a Doctor First?
Anyone serious about anti-aging should have a professional anti-aging health coach. Unfortunately, medical anti-aging clinics with HGH injections cost about $20,000 per year. Doctors like myself who try to make available more modest longevity programs to fit to the middle-class budget are rare. Generally, however, the more over 40 you look, feel, and perform, the more likely you could probably benefit from high quality, safe and effective HGH secretagogues. Be careful. You don't have too much of an entrepreneur to figure out that "youth in bottle" is a marketer's dream. Buyer beware!
How Can I Enhance My HGH Levels Naturally?
HGH levels are affected by stress, rest patterns, nutrition and exercise. Stressful lifestyles tend to focus the body on producing stress hormones like cortisol and ACTH. Too much stress hormone breaks down muscle tissue, inhibits repair, and interferes with sleep. If a long, vital and happy life is on your busy agenda, then make fun, rest, play, and quiet times a priority!
HGH levels are strongly affected by our nutritional status. In the infirm elderly HGH levels have doubled from admittedly very low levels by supplementing with 20 grams of protein from whey. Correcting suboptimal zinc status in otherwise apparently healthy subjects increased HGH levels by 20%. As human growth hormone's effect is to stimulate growth, it will maximize your results if you supply yourself with the necessary proteins and mineral building blocks through a nutrient dense diet. A high quality multi-vitamin/mineral, rich in antioxidants is also to your health's advantage.
Exercise stimulates HGH by reducing stress and promoting restful sleep. However, weightlifting (and to a lesser extent running wind sprints) directly enhances HGH levels. Heavy weightlifting (such as dead lifts, squats, and bench presses) are the best. Performing three sets (5-8 reps) at maximum effort is best. Unless you're very experienced, be sure to get guidance from a trainer/or doctor at your gym or home.
Many relevant diagnostic signs are not performed deliberately by the examiner or by the patient at the examiner’s direction. They are observed as the patient reacts to their condition. Fortin’s finger sign, Minor’s sign, and Vanzetti’s sign are three examples of this principle.
Spearheaded by burgeoning scientific and clinical research literature, psychedelics have reached a level of media coverage and popular interest that has not been seen for over half a century. By “psychedelics,” we are referring to the unique class of substances that includes psilocybin (the active compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”), LSD, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT, and mescaline – each of which occurs in the natural world (except for LSD, which is a semi-synthetic compound).
While working at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., one of the primary care physicians stated that imaging every patient prior to receiving chiropractic was not medically necessary. It was at that point I reconsidered the need for the imaging of every patient to avoid malpractice.
