Imagine tapping into your body's natural fountain of youth without injections or supplements just by skipping food and water for a bit. That's the power of fasting and its impact on growth hormone (GH).
What is Growth Hormone (GH)?
GH, also known as human growth hormone (HGH), is a peptide hormone produced by the pituitary gland that regulates growth, metabolism, cell repair, and muscle preservation. It peaks during childhood but remains crucial in adults for fat loss, muscle maintenance, and anti-aging.
Key functions: Promotes lipolysis (fat breakdown), protein synthesis, and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) production; low levels link to fatigue, weight gain, and aging.
Why care about GH in fasting?
It surges naturally during calorie restriction to shift the body into 'survival mode,' conserving energy and repairing tissues.
GH isn't just for kids, it's your body's built-in anti-aging tool. Why do you think you get so many miracle-like stories around fasting? A lot of it boils down to the release of growth hormone and stem cells. Is your skin looking better, or your joints feeling more powerful? If it's not the cortisol boost anti-inflammatory effect, then it must be that the long-term healing is primarily driven by growth hormone and stem cells.
20 year old: ~1.0
30 year old: ~1.0
50 year old: ~0.6-0.7
How Fasting Triggers GH Release
Fasting drops insulin and glucose, signaling the hypothalamus to release growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), pulsing GH from the pituitary. This counters energy shortages by mobilizing fats and sparing proteins.
Does GH stay elevated post-fast?
No, growth hormone (GH) levels do not remain elevated after fasting ends; they typically return to baseline upon refeeding. During fasting, GH surges to promote fat mobilization and protein sparing, but refeeding—through rising insulin, glucose, and IGF-1—suppresses this elevation. Studies confirm:
- In extended fasts (3+ days), GH remains high with low IGF-1 (indicating resistance), but refeeding restores the GH-IGF axis, suppressing GH within hours to days.
- Short-term fasting (e.g., 24-37.5 hours) boosts GH 5-10 fold, but levels normalize quickly post-meal due to reduced metabolic clearance and feedback inhibition.
- In prolonged water-only fasting, GH increases substantially during the fast but returns to basal levels on refeeding.
hGH Release Specifically in Water Fasting
24-hour water fasts boost GH 5-14x; 2-3 days up to 200-300%; 7 days even higher. It correlates with weight loss independence and cardiometabolic improvements.
Many chronically ill people who respond badly or don't respond at all to certain medications or supplements start to respond much better after doing a few extended fasts. I've seen this countless of times now. It makes a lot of sense for these people to try fasting, but it's important to assess fatigue levels, kidney, liver, and blood function before deciding on which type of fast, length, and if things like T3 therapy need to be done first.
hGH Release in Dry Fasting: Amplifying the Effects
Dry fasting triggers GH via similar pathways but with added hypovolemia (low blood volume) and hypertonicity, stimulating EPO and GH for oxygen and repair.
Building on water fasting's 200-300% GH rises in multi-day fasts, dry fasting's dehydration adds GH-stimulating factors like increased EPO secretion. You can expect slightly more
Benefits of Elevated GH from Dry Fasting (Correlated to Water Fasting)
Faster fat loss, muscle preservation, anti-aging via autophagy, reduced inflammation, and better insulin sensitivity.
GH supplementation protocol
My most common recommendation for GH supplementation when completing the Scorch Protocol is to work up to 2 IU/day. I do not advise this when early on in the healing journey, as your body may often react with a histamine response, but that is why you prepare the body with dry fasting first. Then, you analyze T3 therapy recommendations, and finally, you explore growth hormone and other peptide options to complete the process.
Final Thoughts
Dry fasting potently boosts GH for repair and vitality, likely more than water fasting due to added stress. But if that was it, then the added risks of dry fasting would probably not be worth the slight growth hormone increase. The beauty of dry fasting lies in its hypertonic stress benefits. The hyperosmotic power that sucks water out of cells and forces them to adapt with things like microtubule repair and restructuring. Better lysosomal distribution, and more. These are like mini-nano-surgeries occurring in each cell that you can't get with anything else. This is why dry fasting works where water fasting fails for a lot of gnarly diseases. But then there are many caveats, like underlying endocrine issues that might make the dry fast more dangerous or overfasting.
Be sure to check out the Dry Fasting Club's members section, which features in-depth interviews and videos, as well as protocols and questionnaires that assess your dry fasting readiness levels.
