Yes, Creatine Benefits Include Reversing the Effects of Sleep Deprivation and Stress

In the Wild West of nutritional supplements, there is a relatively small handful of things we absolutely know to be true-one of them being that creatine benefits are real. Five grams of creatine monohydrate per day, together with regular resistance training and proper nutrition , can help you build muscle and get stronger . It’s not bro science. It’s science , bro. And yet, despite creatine being one of the most exhaustively researched supplements available, scientists continue to put it under the microscope, enticed by its potentially game-changing impact on one muscle in particular: your brain. “We already know a lot about how creatine is stored in muscles and can help increase muscular strength, endurance, and recovery, but growing research seems to indicate that creatine is similarly stored in the brain , resulting in a wide range of potential mental and cognitive benefits ,” says Ashley Koff, RD , nutrition course director for UC Irvine’s Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute’s Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship. Specifically, beyond the muscular benefits we’re already aware of, “there is a growing amount of evidence showing that higher doses of creatine-beyond the standard five grams daily-may have some cognitive performance-enhancing capacity,” says Jason Sonners, DC, PhD , a longevity and recovery expert leading research at the University of Miami’s Department of Molecular Biology. “Newer research is showing us that, in higher doses, we can increase the amount of creatine crossing the blood-brain barrier for increased energy production inside the brain,” Dr. Sonners says. If this sounds like a major breakthrough, that’s because it just might be. We asked experts to break down all the trustworthy research on this topic, and for their recommendations on how you can take advantage of creatine’s potential brain-boosting benefits. Which hyped up creatine benefits are actually backed by science? We know from recent research, like a 2024 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, published in the journal Nature , that we can indeed increase brain creatine levels by taking creatine supplements. But here’s the thing-and this is important: Your brain runs a tight ship, and just because you throw more creatine at it, that doesn’t mean it’s going to use it-at least, not under normal conditions. Put another way, the science shows us that creatine’s ability to benefit your brain is at its best when you’re, well, not at yours. “Brain levels appear tightly regulated and may rise only modestly with supplementation, unless the brain is energy-stressed or baseline creatine is low,” i.e., if you’re sleep-deprived, stressed out, or not getting enough creatine through your diet, says Zishan Khan, MD , board-certified psychiatrist with Mindpath Health, who notes that creatine has shown “mixed or null effects on broader executive functions in healthy, rested adults.” That being said, creatine’s potential to pick up the slack when your brain is tired or stressed (or a bit of both) is well worth the hype the supplement has recently been receiving on social media for its purported ability to reverse up...

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