Exercise-Induced growth hormone during acute sleep deprivation

The effect of acute (24-h) sleep deprivation on exercise-induced growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was examined. Ten men (20.6 ± 1.4 years) completed two randomized 24-h sessions including a brief, high-intensity exercise bout following either a night of sleep (SLEEP) or (24-h) sleep deprivation (SLD). Anaerobic performance (mean power [MP], peak power [PP], minimum power [MinP], time to peak power [TTPP], fatigue index, [FI]) and total work per sprint [TWPS]) was determined from four maximal 30-sec Wingate sprints on a cycle ergometer. Self-reported sleep 7 days prior to each session was similar between SLEEP and SLD sessions (7.92 ± 0.33 vs. 7.98 ± 0.39 h, P = 0.656, respectively) and during the actual SLEEP session in the lab, the total amount of sleep was similar to the 7 days leading up to the lab session (7.72 ± 0.14 h vs. 7.92 ± 0.33 h, respectively) (P = 0.166). No differences existed in MP, PP, MinP, TTPP, FI, TWPS, resting GH concentrations, time to reach exercise-induced peak GH concentration (TTP), or free IGF-1 between sessions. GH area under the curve (AUC) (825.0 ± 199.8 vs. 2212.9 ± 441.9 μg/L*min, P < 0.01), exercise-induced peak GH concentration (17.8 ± 3.7 vs. 39.6 ± 7.1 μg/L, P < 0.01) and ΔGH (peak GH - resting GH) (17.2 ± 3.7 vs. 38.2 ± 7.3 μg/L, P < 0.01) were significantly lower during the SLEEP versus SLD session. Our results indicate that the exercise-induced GH response was significantly augmented in sleep-deprived individuals.