Creatine is a substance found in muscle and brain tissues.
Creatine is a popular pre-workout ingredient and touted as a great muscle-building supplement, also supports cognitive performance.
How does it work and what is creatine in reality?
Today, I will briefly outline the basics of creatine and how you can use it as a nootropic.
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What are All Effects of Creatine?
Creatine itself is widely used in sports nutrition.
The effect can be seen in the area of increased anaerobic endurance and increase in lean muscle mass.
A significant increase in intracellular reserves of “fast” energy leads to a noticeable improvement in strength indicators, which, with proper nutrition, are easily converted into an increase in muscle mass.
Creatine attracts water molecules for its dissolution.
It accumulates mainly in muscle tissue, which leads to a visual increase in muscle volume, and also reduces plasma concentrations of a protein that inhibits the growth of muscle tissue – myostatin.
But creatine also has nootropic and even neuroprotective properties.
Creatine belongs to the category of nootropics known for improving brain metabolic functions, leading to improved neuronal health and increased mental energy.
The nootropic effects of creatine directly follow from its biochemical role in cells – an additional donor of high-energy phosphates for the rapid resynthesize of ATP from ADP.
Taking creatine helps to increase the “energy potential” of the brain.
The brain becomes more adapted to the processing of a large amount of information without depleting the fast energy reserve of neurons.
This leads to a noticeable increase in the adaptive abilities of the brain and prevents the so-called information overload.
Creatine also has cytoprotective and neuroprotective properties in both ischemia and hypoxia.
It is also associated with maintaining the amount of ATP and other macroergic compounds at a sufficient level.
And also with the fact that creatine is an effective lactate buffer.
Under conditions of hypoxia, glucose cannot be fully oxidized to carbon dioxide and water, and with the formation of two ATP molecules it is metabolized into lactic acid (lactate), which acidifies cells (acidosis effect), such a pathological condition is able to prevent creatine.
Creatine, among other things, helps to maintain the structure of cell membranes from the inside.
Also, creatine is able to reduce the excitotoxicity of glutamate, to a greater extent by maintaining normal ATP both as an energy carrier and as a molecule that structurally maintains membrane integrity.
Is Creatine a Nootropic?
Creatine gives energy not only to muscles, but also to the brain – for example, it increases energy delivery to neurons.
Genetic disorders in the work of creatine provoke mental retardation and developmental delays.
But taking creatine made up for it. From here came the theories (and their confirmations) about the impact on productivity.
Creatine has been linked to depression: A Nature study of 22,000 people found that people with low creatine intake (0-0.26 grams per day) had a 42% higher risk of depression.
What is Creatine Dosage?
The wide range of typical and suggested doses for creatine is quite extensive and requires a lot of personal consideration.
People can use from 200 mg to 25 grams of this supplement per day and it depends on their purposes and needs.
For example, bodybuilders and athletes definitely need bigger dosage than people using creatine as a nootropic. The most commonly recommended range as nootropic seems to be between 2 and 5 grams per day.
It is better to start taking creatine according to this doctor’s recommendation: first, 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight daily for 5-7 days, then at least 0.03 grams per kilogram per day.
For an 82kg person this means 25g/day during the loading phase and 2.5g/day after, although many users take 5g/day due to the low price of creatine and the potential for more benefits.
Higher doses (up to 10 g per day) may be beneficial for people with large amounts of muscle mass and high activity levels, or those who do not react to the lower dose of 5 g/day.
Creatine should be consumed in powder in the morning and afternoon if you are using it as a cognitive enhancer.
Side Effects of Creatine?
Creatine is considered generally safe and very well tolerated.
Creatine is a well-researched and safe supplement. When taken correctly without exceeding dosages and with plenty of water, creatine will only bring benefits – and it can be taken even for five years nonstop.
However, it should not be used by anyone under the age of 18 (25 is better as the bones continue to grow up until that point).
However, there are a few reports of side effects.
It should be noted that these are not confirmed, but may include kidney damage, heart problems, muscle cramps, dehydration, and diarrhea (along with other stomach problems).
TOP Myths of Creatine
Not everything that people say about creatine is true.
Some exaggerate the harm, others inflate the benefits.
For example:
- Creatine will not affect the kidneys in any way. 1300 studies found no effect in healthy people.
- It Gives Zero effect on fat
- Taking creatine alone will not eliminate wrinkles
- Cholesterol level will not be changed
- Cortisol or “stress hormone” won’t go down
- Also it gives zero effect on insulin, blood pressure and blood lactate
- Creatine does not improve performance in running, swimming, walking, or other cardio activities
Can Creatine Boost Your IQ?
Creatine improves brain function. This conclusion was reached by the authors of a study conducted at the Universities of Sydney and Macquarie in Australia.
Scientists have studied the use of creatine (5 grams per day for six weeks) to improve mental ability tests.
The participants who took creatine showed improved short-term memory and were also better at solving speed problems.
The creatine group was especially good at memorizing and repeating long backward sequences of numbers.
The use of creatine allowed participants to repeat 1-2 more numbers than in the placebo group.
Their overall IQ was also higher than the placebo group.
So here is Scientists’ conclusion:
The use of creatine in the diet significantly increases intelligence compared to placebo.
This study suggests that creatine can help solve complex computational problems.
Who knows, maybe in the future, a sip of creatine before examination will become common among university students and it will be a great alternative to Adderall.
FAQ
Does Creatine Give you Mental Energy?
Creatine is a nootropic that gives mental energy. Animal studies have shown it to be neuroprotective and also increases energy (ATP) in the brain.
It also supports cognitive functions when you are dealing with tasks that require intensive processing in the prefrontal cortex.
Providing energy to the brain and body is the main reason creatine has become known as a nootropic, but it has also been noted to reduce the negative effects of sleep deprivation and improve mood.
Is Creatine Good For The Brain?
Traditionally, creatine is a sport supplement, but this time, scientists tested it not for sports purposes and not on athletes.
Creatine improves brain function. This conclusion was reached by the authors of a study conducted at the Universities of Sydney and Macquarie in Australia.
Is Creatine Good for Brain Fog?
When we take creatine as a supplement, we actually increase the content of creatine phosphate in the cells. Therefore, at least in theory, creatine supplements influence our thought processes and remove brain fog.
