Vacuum energy density: deflation during inflation.

We argue that the discrepancy between the Planck mass scale and the observed value of the cosmological constant can be largely attenuated, if those quantities are understood as a result of effective, and thus scale dependent, couplings. We exemplify this mechanism for the early inflationary epoch of the universe by solving the corresponding effective gap equations, subject to an energy condition. Several non-trivial checks and extensions are discussed. A comparison of our results to the renormalization group flow, obtained within the asymptotic safety program reveals a stunning agreement.