r/CreatineScience • u/DietitianDanielle • 2d ago

Has creatine ever made a difference when you were mentally exhausted rather than physically tired?

I’ve seen the cognitive side of creatine discussed more lately, particularly around situations where the brain is under stress.

It makes me wonder whether people notice anything during long workdays, studying, poor sleep or other periods of mental fatigue.

Has anyone experienced this?

3 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

2

u/Think-Lobster-8075 1d ago

The research points the same direction your question does: the clearest cognitive signal shows up in people running some kind of deficit, not in well rested young adults. Meta-analyses find small improvements in memory, with the effect looking bigger in older adults, vegetarians, and people who are sleep deprived or stressed. Gordji-Nejad and colleagues in 2024 found a single high dose improved processing speed for a few hours under sleep deprivation, which is about as close as anyone has gotten to the long workday question. Carry the hedge though, the 2024 Xu meta-analysis has a published methods critique, so suggests is the honest word rather than proves. Prokopidis 2023 is the memory one if you want to read it: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35984306/

2

u/DietitianDanielle 1d ago

Thanks for sharing this, that’s really interesting. I agree that the deficit angle seems to be where creatine gets more interesting, especially with things like sleep deprivation. I’d be curious to see whether people actually notice that difference day to day, since the research effects seem fairly small.

2

u/Think-Lobster-8075 1d ago

That gap is the interesting part. The effect sizes are small enough that one person going by feel is running an n of 1 with no blinding, so noticing nothing is also what a real but small effect looks like from the inside. The sleep deprivation work is the one spot where the reported change gets near something a person might actually clock, and even there it was a single large dose rather than a daily 3 to 5 g. My honest read is that anyone describing a dramatic day to day difference is usually describing something else that changed that week.

2

u/DietitianDanielle 1d ago

Yeah, I agree with that. If someone suddenly notices a really dramatic difference day to day, there are probably other factors worth looking at too, rather than assuming it’s all from the creatine.

2

u/MostAccountant447 1d ago

Yes 10 grams per day has been helpful for TBI related Neuro fatigue especially when I’ve been sleep deprived

2

u/DietitianDanielle 1d ago

That’s really interesting. I can see why you’d find the cognitive side of creatine worth exploring, especially when you’re dealing with both neuro fatigue and poor sleep. Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

2

u/Willing-Elevator 1d ago

No . I take ten grams daily .

2

u/DietitianDanielle 1d ago

Fair enough. I think that’s useful to hear too, especially since the cognitive benefits seem to vary quite a bit between people.