Goal
Recovery and sleep
Twenty matches, three unrelated mechanisms, and a ranking you should not read top-down.
Two related things are bundled here: the quality and architecture of your sleep, and how quickly you feel restored between hard training sessions. They are joined because most growth hormone secretion is tied to slow-wave sleep, which is why so many growth hormone axis compounds appear on a page about sleeping better.
MK-677 stands alone at 5/5. It is orally active, lasts around twenty-four hours, and has the most human trial evidence of anything here for increasing slow-wave sleep — including a two-year study in older adults that also flagged raised fasting glucose and reduced insulin sensitivity, alongside the appetite increase and water retention it is known for. At 4 sit the pre-bed pulse strategies (CJC-1295 without DAC, ipamorelin, sermorelin) plus DSIP and Selank, which work on sedation and anxiolysis instead. DSIP is the cautionary entry: its name promises delta-wave sleep, but the controlled work is a handful of small studies from roughly 1977 to the early 1990s with modest and inconsistent effects, and some of the more repeatable findings were in pain and withdrawal rather than insomnia.
Do not read this list top-down. Twenty compounds carry a weight and none of them beats fixing light exposure, alcohol, caffeine timing and a consistent wake time — that is not a disclaimer, it is the ranking. If you do pick something, decide first which of the three things you want: sedation and sleep onset (DSIP, Selank), sleep architecture and growth hormone (the secretagogues), or systemic recovery (SS-31, TB-500). Growth hormone releasing compounds are dosed on an empty stomach because a recent meal blunts the pulse, which in practice means finishing dinner well before you inject.
How to read this
Match — how squarely it aims here
The weight the dataset gives this compound for this goal, 1 to 5. It describes intent and mechanism, not benefit, and not direction: a 5 means the compound acts hard on the system in question.
5/5Match strength 5 of 5primary useEvidence — whether anyone has shown it
Read from the compound’s evidence note and handling grade, for the compound as a whole rather than for this goal alone. A 5/5 match on animal data is a hypothesis, not a result.
- Human trialsRandomized or controlled human trials exist, or the compound holds a regulatory approval somewhere. Trials existing is not the same as trials succeeding — some of these were negative.
- Some human dataPublished human work exists but is small, early-phase, acute, or from a single group that nobody has replicated.
- Animal data onlyThe case rests on rodent and cell work. Doses shown are extrapolated, not established in people.
- Anecdotal onlyNo published trial record of any kind. Every number comes from vendor packaging and community practice.
20 compounds, strongest match first
Ranked for recovery and sleep
Match 5/5 · Primary use
1
Match 4/5 · Strong secondary
5
- 02CJC-1295 without DAC (Mod GRF 1-29)SubQ100 mcg–300 mcg · typ 100 mcgIntermediate4/5Match strength 4 of 5Anecdotal only
- 03DSIP (Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide)SubQIM100 mcg–500 mcg · typ 200 mcgIntermediate4/5Match strength 4 of 5Some human data
- 04IpamorelinSubQ100 mcg–300 mcg · typ 200 mcgBeginner4/5Match strength 4 of 5Some human data
- 05SelankNasalSubQ150 mcg–900 mcg · typ 300 mcgIntermediate4/5Match strength 4 of 5Some human data
- 06SermorelinSubQ100 mcg–1 mg · typ 300 mcgBeginner4/5Match strength 4 of 5Some human data
Match 3/5 · Meaningful contributor
6
- 07CJC-1295 with DACSubQ1 mg–2 mg · typ 1.5 mgIntermediate3/5Match strength 3 of 5Some human data
- 08EpitalonSubQIM5 mg–10 mg · typ 10 mgIntermediate3/5Match strength 3 of 5Some human data
- 09GHRP-2SubQIM100 mcg–300 mcg · typ 200 mcgIntermediate3/5Match strength 3 of 5Some human data
- 10HexarelinSubQIM50 mcg–200 mcg · typ 100 mcgAdvanced3/5Match strength 3 of 5Some human data
- 11SS-31 (Elamipretide)SubQ5 mg–40 mg · typ 10 mgAdvanced3/5Match strength 3 of 5Human trials
- 12TB-500SubQIM200 mcg–500 mcg · typ 300 mcgIntermediate3/5Match strength 3 of 5Animal data only
Match 2/5 · Marginal
6
- 13BPC-157SubQOral200 mcg–500 mcg · typ 250 mcgBeginner2/5Match strength 2 of 5Animal data only
- 14MOTS-cSubQ2.5 mg–5 mg · typ 2.5 mgAdvanced2/5Match strength 2 of 5Animal data only
- 15NAD+SubQIM25 mg–250 mg · typ 100 mgIntermediate2/5Match strength 2 of 5Animal data only
- 16SemaxNasalSubQ100 mcg–1 mg · typ 300 mcgIntermediate2/5Match strength 2 of 5Some human data
- 17TesamorelinSubQ1.28 mg–2 mg · typ 2 mgIntermediate2/5Match strength 2 of 5Human trials
- 18Thymosin Alpha-1SubQ800 mcg–3.2 mg · typ 1.6 mgIntermediate2/5Match strength 2 of 5Human trials
Named stacks
Protocols built around this goal
Not sure this is your goal
Most people arrive wanting two or three of these at once, and the honest answer is usually to pick one and run it properly. The quiz weighs your goals against your experience, the routes you will tolerate and your contraindications, then shows its reasoning rather than just a name.
Take the quizOther goals
Educational information only, not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician before starting, changing, or stopping anything.