Cycling Off

Cycling off is the practice of running an extended zero-dose period between courses of a peptide, generally to restore receptor sensitivity, reset feedback loops, or simply to limit cumulative exposure to a compound whose long-term safety data is incomplete.

Common cycle structures in the research literature are 8 weeks on / 4 weeks off, 12 weeks on / 6 weeks off, or 5 days on / 2 days off (for short-cycle compounds like some GHRPs). The right pattern depends on the compound: receptor desensitization is the dominant concern for GHS-R agonists; HPA / HPG axis recovery is the concern for kisspeptin and PT-141.

Cycling off is typically preceded by a taper for compounds with established feedback loops, and is usually accompanied by tracking the relevant biomarker (IGF-1 for GH-axis cycles, weight / appetite for GLP-1 cycles) to confirm baseline restoration.