Brains or Brawn?
Debunking the Myths
I’m in my junior year of college, and I’m texting in a group chat with some of my buddies from High School.
“Pete, I’m gonna start taking creatine.”
“Nope,” I reply. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” he said. “I go to school at the beach and I want to look a little bigger.”
“Just lift a few times a week and make sure your nutrition is in check; you’ll be fine. Don’t take that stuff,” was my reply.
Not entirely bad advice, but not fully on the mark either. I try to make a habit of not giving my opinion on a subject unless I’ve done my research, but this was one of the occasions that I made an uninformed statement.
You see, when I thought of creatine, two things came to mind: the guys I would see in the Rec center who took 40 grams a day and swelled up like balloons, and a handful of myths that I didn’t bother to verify: you’ll damage your kidneys, it’ll ruin your gut, it actually makes you fat, the list goes on.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long after this that I learned how to do proper research.
Creatine is one of the most—if not the most—extensively studied nutritional supplements. With over 680 studies on this compound, it has been effectively proven to be safe for all ages.
Not only are all the myths I listed above false, but creatine also offers numerous benefits that extend far beyond muscle strength and recovery, including improvements in brain health, function, and longevity.
Most people in the fitness world are familiar with creatine, but for those who are unfamiliar, I'd like to explain what it is before I go ahead and unpack the reasons why you may benefit from taking it.
What is Creatine?
Creatine is a compound found in your muscles and brain. Your liver, pancreas, and kidneys make about one gram of creatine per day, but you can also get it from eating seafood and meat.
Creatine boosts ATP, improves bone mineral density, and drives water into the muscle cells, thereby enhancing athletic performance, strength, and recovery.
However, what most of us are unaware of—and precisely what I’d like to discuss today—is that creatine isn’t just about sports performance.
So, let’s dive into a few of my favorite perks, such as cognition, mental health, the counteractive effects of sleep loss, and neuroprotection.
Alzheimers & Cognition
When I first started to learn about creatine’s benefits for the brain, I was skeptical. Why had I never heard of this? Why was it only marketed towards athletes, featuring pictures of guys in tank tops with big biceps?
In fact, the brain perks are the only reason I started taking it. As an athlete, I care about sports performance, but a slight athletic edge wasn’t enough for me to add a new supplement to my diet. But after suffering severe brain issues, I was all in.
Studies on adults aged 18-60 who take creatine show enhanced memory, a boost in attention, and improved processing speed [1]. Alzheimer’s tends to be more prevalent after the age of 65, but even these groups saw massive improvements as well.
Although this was only a pilot study, a group of Alzheimer’s patients took 20g of creatine for 8 weeks. Brain creatine levels rose 11%, and cognition significantly improved, including memory, reading, and attention [2].
Not only does Alzheimer’s steal memory, but it also causes muscle loss. A separate 8-week Alzheimer’s study showed that creatine improved muscle strength, muscle size, and fat loss in patients. The interesting aspect of this study was that they saw improvements in all of these areas without doing a lick of exercise [3].
Whether you’re looking to supercharge your brain, protect it from future disease, or help mitigate its effects, creatine may be a powerful weapon to add to your arsenal.
Sleep Loss
The National Sleep Foundation reports that 35% of Americans get less sleep than the recommended seven hours, while a large portion of the country would classify their sleep as low quality. When I talk with my friends who are parents of newborns, they tell me they can’t remember the last time they got a full night’s sleep.
Regardless of who you are, there is a chance you fall into the sleep deprivation category. Those who consistently consume creatine show less change in performance, reaction time, and mood state after experiencing sleep deprivation [4].
Not only does long-term consumption aid you in your lack of shut-eye, but even a single high dose of creatine after a bad night’s sleep has been proven to work wonders with benefits such as increased cognitive performance, processing speed, reaction speed, short-term memory, and significantly reduced fatigue [5].
The next time you get terrible sleep, say, four or five hours, try taking a single high dose of 20g [5] as soon as you wake up. The creatine won’t just negate the effects of sleep deprivation, but it actually causes your cognitive performance to be even better than if you got a full night’s sleep. Crazy, right? The kicker is, you won’t get the same effects with compounding lack of sleep. If you get four hours of sleep multiple nights in a row, the benefits won’t be the same. I personally use the high-dose trick after every bad night of sleep, and it’s an absolute game-changer.
Creatine(G) Happy Thoughts
The last brain benefit I want to address is creatine’s effect on mood and depression. To anyone who struggles with mental health, listen up.
A group of adults undergoing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy who took 5g of creatine daily for 8 weeks saw a significant improvement in their depressive symptoms compared to the placebo group [6].
When testing creatine levels in the body, the International Society of Sports Nutrition linked lower levels with both cognitive decline and increased depression risk [7]. Even if you do not currently deal with depression, it’s worth noting that not getting enough creatine may potentially put you at future risk.
Lastly, low-dose creatine has been shown to provide improvements in cognition and mood to women during menopause [8]. I can’t personally relate to this one, but The British Menopause Society reports that over 50% of women experience symptoms relating to mood during menopause transition. Because women store less creatine than men, it may be even more important for them to supplement with it.
For anyone who has experimented with supplements, nutrition, or medication, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if what you’re taking is making a genuine difference. In my own trials with creatine, I’ve experienced noticeable differences between the times that I do and don’t take it.
So what’s the best way to add this to your diet?
Adding it In
Always consult your doctor or practitioner before adding a new supplement or food. But if you get the green light, I have a few recommendations for you concerning how and when to take it.
My personal philosophy is to avoid taking supplements if I can get the same benefits from my food. However, it’s tough to get optimal amounts of creatine from food. For reference, an 8-oz steak has about 1 gram.
HOW MUCH? Well, unless you’ve just had a really tough night of sleep, I’d recommend 5g a day as a maintenance dose. And don’t worry about the “loading phase” either. There’s been enough research to prove that you don’t need to start with 20-25g per day and work your way down. Starting with 5 grams is good enough.
WHAT FORM? The most common form of creatine is creatine monohydrate. It’s cheap, and usually comes in powder form, although you can take capsules as well.
HOW DO I TAKE IT? You can mix it into any liquid, although it works much better when mixed with hot (not boiling) water. However, I would advise against mixing it with caffeinated products, such as coffee. The caffeine seems to negate some of the benefits of the creatine. Taking creatine at the same time as carbohydrates also enhances the benefits. My personal preference is mixing creatine with hot water, sea salt (sea salt boosts blood volume and improves circulation, therefore increasing absorption of creatine), and some fresh-squeezed lemon. But there’s no need to overcomplicate it. It’s not a magic potion where everything needs to be perfect. Simply get it into your system, and you should be good to go.
WHEN DO I TAKE IT? Up to you, depending on the benefits you’re looking for. If you want to supplement the sports-performance side of things, take it post-workout. If you’re looking for a brain boost, then first thing in the morning (especially after a bad night of sleep), or earlier in the day, is best. Because creatine boosts ATP, which increases energy, some people experience difficulty sleeping if they take it too late at night.
At the end of the day, as long as you’re getting it in your system, you should experience the benefits.
So, if you’re looking for a neuroprotective supplement that also enhances brain function, memory, mood, and sports performance, then creatine is worth looking into. If you’re worried about the claims that it can be detrimental or dangerous, I would encourage you to do the research yourself.
If you give it a shot, let me know how it makes you feel!
References
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11275561/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40395689/
[3] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1670641/full
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16416332/
[5] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39488067/
[7] https://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/PDFuploads/ISSN-PDF-Upload-394.pdf
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40854087/
