What is the relationship between sleep and growth? Sleep is a cyclical physiological phenomenon, an important aspect of human life activities, but also to ensure the body’s growth and development, to promote the growth of the “nutritional factors”. As the saying goes, “Sleep well, grow taller”, and there is a scientific basis for this. Sleep: is a temporary rest process of the brain, is a protective inhibition, to eliminate brain fatigue, protect brain function, enhance the human body rabbit epidemic function are very good. More importantly, sleep has a very close relationship with the growth hormone that promotes body height. Growth hormone (GH): It is a physiologically active substance secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, which can act directly on the tissue cells of the whole body, promote the synthesis of proteins in the tissue, increase the volume and number of cells, and promote the growth of the body. It can also promote the proliferation of epiphyseal chondrocytes of long bones, accelerate the growth of bone and cartilage, and make the human body gradually increase in height. Modern research has found that the secretion of growth hormone occurs in babies on the first day of life when they are sleeping. Under normal circumstances, more growth hormone is secreted at night than during the day, three times as much as during the day. The secretion of growth hormone is related to the release and slow wave of sleep. The secretion of growth hormone usually starts 45 to 90 minutes after sleep, and reaches its peak at 70 minutes after sleep on average. If sleep is delayed, the release of growth hormone will be delayed until sleep is complete and growth hormone secretion begins. If you do not sleep at night, little growth hormone is produced. Growth hormone production varies among infants, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly: Infants have high levels of growth hormone in their blood 24 hours a day, and there is no significant difference between sleep and wakefulness. In young children, growth hormone is only secreted during sleep at night, but not during waking hours, with a basal level of 91 mcg/day. In adolescents aged 8-15 years, although growth hormone is also secreted during waking hours, the amount is small and is mainly secreted during sleep. In young people and adults, growth hormone is mainly secreted at night, and the amount secreted during the day is very little and sometimes not measured, and it is mostly secreted during the day when they are dozing. In older adults, the amount of growth hormone secreted during sleep is also small, and the peak is barely measured, and even less during the day. In adolescents, the secretion of other hormones at night is also very strong. For example, prolactin, sex hormone, luteinizing hormone and other hormones are all very beneficial to growth and development. During sleep, the epiphyseal cartilage of the spine, legs and joints are all in a relaxed state, free from body pressure and gravity, and can stretch freely. Therefore, when you wake up in the morning, your height is 0.5-1.5 cm higher than at night, which means that sleep is good for bone development. For the normal growth and development of children, in order to increase height, the first thing you should do is to ensure that children have sufficient sleep time, the younger the child, the longer the sleep time. In general, newborns sleep 18 to 22 hours a day; children under the age of l, should sleep 14 to 18 hours a day; children aged l to 2, should sleep 13 to 14 hours a day; children aged 2 to 4, should sleep 12 hours a day; children aged 4 to 7, should sleep ll hours a day; children aged 7 to 15, should sleep 10 hours a day; adolescents aged 15 to 20, should sleep 9 to 10 hours a day. Sleep not only depends on the length of time, should also pay attention to the quality. Teenagers driving late at night, staying up late will affect the quality of sleep; children eat food before bed, parents sleep with them, sleep too soft bed, will affect the quality of sleep, should develop good sleep habits. Teenagers are the golden age of growth and body growth, should pay more attention to sleep.