One recent study investigated the effects of heavy resistance exercise with the oral daytime ingestion of melatonin. Some physiological responses such as growth hormone (GH) release were assessed.
In this study, 10 healthy male subjects undertook a whole body workout on two occasions, after receiving either melatonin (6 mg) or placebo (6 mg) before each workout. (This was completed in a randomized and double-blind, controlled manner).
The results were quite unexpected – oral ingestion of melatonin combined with resistance exercise actually provided a slight decrease GH concentrations. The strategy didn’t increase GH responses at all.
In fact, from the data, it looked like supplementation with melatonin may have impaired the GH response to exercise.
Therefore, if you are after a research-proven GH booster, I recommend GABA. Taking this supplement in the presence or absence of exercise is shown to provide a consistent, reliable increase in circulating GH. You can read more about this here.
