Mondo Knows Facts
Deep sleep triggers the day's largest growth hormone pulse
The pituitary releases a burst of growth hormone during the first slow-wave period Growth hormone is secreted in pulses, and the biggest usually arrives shortly after sleep begins, during the deepest slow-wave stage. It drives tissue repair and, in children, growth at the ends of long bones. This is one reason lost deep sleep is not fully replaced by lighter sleep. It sits in Mondo's human body collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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The pineal gland regulates daily sleep rhythms with melatoninLight exposure signals the brain to adjust hormone production for sleepAn adult human skeleton consists of 206 bonesInfants are born with around 270 bones which fuse together over childhoodHuman scalp hair grows at about one centimetre per monthHair follicles cycle through growth rest and shedding phases continuouslyFingernails grow almost four times faster than toenailsGreater blood supply and physical use stimulate faster nail plate growthAdenosine builds up in the brain while awakeThis breakdown product of cellular energy accumulates and increases the drive to sleepMorning light shifts the body clock earlierBright light before the clock's low point advances its timing by up to an hour a day
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Tags: sleep, hormones, growth
Deep sleep triggers the day's largest growth hormone pulse: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The pituitary releases a burst of growth hormone during the first slow-wave period. The figure is taken from Endocrine Society, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a human body fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.