Your body makes its largest pulse of growth hormone (GH) in the first 90 minutes of slow-wave sleep. Not in the gym. Not after a meal. In bed. That single fact is the whole reason the CJC-1295 plus Ipamorelin protocol exists.
The stack is built around that nightly window. Both compounds push the pituitary gland to release more GH right when it was going to anyway. This piece walks through why deep sleep matters, what each compound does, how the two work together, and the standard 8 to 12 week nightly protocol most researchers run.
The sleep window: why nightly dosing is the point
GH doesn't release in a steady drip across the day. It releases in pulses. The biggest pulse, by a wide margin, lands in the first 90 minutes of slow-wave sleep. After age 30, that pulse shrinks every year. By age 50, total GH output is roughly half of what it was at age 20.
Dosing right before bed rides the natural pulse. The compounds reach the pituitary in the same window the body was already going to fire. Add them at 8 AM and the timing is wrong: the pulse machinery isn't primed, food in the gut blunts the response, and most of the dose gets cleared by lunch.
Skip food for the 2 hours before the shot. Ghrelin-pathway compounds work best when insulin is at baseline. A late-night meal blunts the response by about half in published research models.
What each compound does
CJC-1295 (without DAC)
CJC-1295 is a synthetic copy of GHRH, the hormone the hypothalamus uses to tell the pituitary to release GH. The peptide is a modified GHRH(1-29) sequence with swaps that boost binding strength and resist breakdown by enzymes. The result is a stronger GHRH signal that still pulses on a short timescale (plasma half-life under 30 minutes).
Ipamorelin
Ipamorelin is a ghrelin receptor agonist. The ghrelin receptor is a second pituitary pathway that also drives GH release, working in parallel with the GHRH pathway. Ipamorelin is selective for the GH-release effect of the ghrelin receptor and skips the appetite and cortisol effects that broader ghrelin agonists cause.
The combined effect
Because the two receptors (GHRH-R and GHS-R) sit on different signaling pathways that converge on pituitary GH release, hitting both at the same time produces a larger and more complete GH pulse than either compound alone. That synergy is what makes the pair the standard research stack.
What does the published CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin research cover?
Research on the pair and on each compound alone spans:
- GH and IGF-1 axis research
- Body composition research (lean mass, fat mass)
- Sleep quality research, specifically slow-wave sleep
- Recovery research
- Skin and connective tissue research
Phase 3 registration trials for the pair are not in the published record. The dataset is mostly early-phase and observational. The compounds are sold as research-use only.
What is the standard CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin research cycle structure?
| Phase | Duration | CJC-1295 (no DAC) | Ipamorelin | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard cycle | 8 weeks | 100 mcg | 100 to 200 mcg | Nightly, pre-sleep |
| Extended cycle | 12 weeks | 100 mcg | 200 mcg | Nightly, pre-sleep |
| Twice-daily protocol | 8 weeks | 100 mcg | 200 mcg | AM (fasted) + nightly pre-sleep |
| Wash-out | 4 to 8 weeks | off | off | Between consecutive cycles |
Pre-sleep dosing is the operational standard. Skip food for 2 hours before. The two compounds can be drawn into the same insulin syringe and pinned together.
What are the CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin side effects from the literature?
- Mild flushing or warmth. Common in the first 5 to 15 minutes after the shot. Goes away on its own.
- Injection site response. Mild redness or tenderness, usually gone within hours.
- Vivid dreams. Many researchers report more intense dreams in the first 1 to 2 weeks. Self-limiting.
- Mild fluid retention. Sometimes shows up in hands or feet. Resolves on dose adjustment or wash-out.
- Numbness or tingling. Uncommon. If it sticks around, drop the dose or pause.
How do you reconstitute and store CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin?
Aion ships CJC-1295 (no DAC) in 2 mg and 5 mg vials, and Ipamorelin in 2 mg and 5 mg vials. Standard mix for the 5 mg vial of each: 2.5 mL of bac water, giving 2 mg per mL, or 20 mcg per insulin syringe unit. A 100 mcg dose is 5 units of each compound. A 200 mcg dose is 10 units. Both can go in the same syringe. Full walk-through in our reconstitution guide.
- Lyophilized, sealed: refrigerated at 2 to 8 C, stable for months
- Lyophilized, long-term: minus 20 C freezer for multi-year storage
- Reconstituted with bac water: refrigerated at 2 to 8 C, 4 to 6 week use window
What researchers track on this cycle
- Sleep quality (1 to 10), daily, with wearable slow-wave sleep cross-reference
- Recovery score (1 to 10), daily
- Bodyweight, weekly morning average
- Skin and hair self-assessment, monthly
- IGF-1 blood marker, baseline and at week 8
What is the CJC-1295 + Ipamorelin bottom line?
CJC-1295 plus Ipamorelin is the baseline protocol for GH-axis research. Nightly pre-sleep timing matches the body's own GH peak. Dual-receptor stacking produces a fuller release than either compound alone. The 8 to 12 week cycle gives enough time for downstream IGF-1 and body composition signal to show up in well-tracked research.
The dose math is simple. Side effect load is low. The compounds stack cleanly with the soft-tissue research stack (BPC-157 plus TB-500) without meaningful interaction. Pick the bedtime, block it, dose nightly. The full beginner injection guide lives at /blog/peptide-injection-101.