Creatine provides a key source of energy for your cells including muscle and brain cells. Creatine regenerates ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is the energy currency used by all your cells.
Creatine for Increased Muscle Strength, Size, and Power
Creatine supplementation can help build muscle strength, size and power through several important mechanisms including improving muscle recovery.
Creatine improves muscle recovery between sets of resistance training exercise allowing you to recover faster so you can do more sets in a fixed amount of time.
Creatine allows you to recover more between repetitions of an exercise within a set meaning you can do more repetitions during a set of exercise.
Creatine also helps you recover faster between workouts allowing you to workout more frequently.
Collectively this allows you to use heavier weights, do more repetitions and more sets of exercise which is key to building muscle strength, size and power!
Creatine and the Brain
Research has proven that creatine supplementation can improve brain function. Just like with muscles the brain uses creatine as a fuel source.
Brain levels of creatine are affected by aging, depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder and reduced physical activity.
Several studies have shown improved brain function from creatine supplementation. A 2018 systemic review examined 6 of these studies and concluded that creatine can indeed improve short-term memory, intelligence, and reasoning.
Creatine has also been shown to be especially useful in brain injury such as concussions. During many brain injuries there is a cellular energy crisis induced and creatine is a key energy source.
Creatine also supports mental health and helps with depression. In the review article Creatine Supplementation in Women’s Health: A Lifespan Perspective – authors point out that “dietary creatine intake is inversely proportional with depression occurrence: with a 31% greater incidence of depression in adults in the lowest quartile of creatine intake.”
The Unique Benefits of Creatine for Women
The article goes on to point out several reasons that creatine supplementation can be especially beneficial for women. For example – women naturally store only 10% as much creatine as men!
The article also points out that “creatine supplementation may be of particular importance during menses, pregnancy, post-partum, during and post-menopause. The menstrual cycle may influence creatine homeostasis due to the cyclical nature of sex hormone regulation.”
Creatine supplementation is especially useful for people who do not eat meat since this is the primary dietary source of creatine, and this is particularly relevant for women because they are twice as likely as men to say they do not eat meat.
Creatine For Seniors
Another group that can reap benefits from creatine supplementation is seniors! With gaining and inactivity muscle wasting and atrophy occurs – particularly in fast-twitch muscle fibers which produce the most force. These are the types of muscle fibers that benefit most from creatine supplementation.
Creatine has been shown to quickly improve muscle strength in conjunction with resistance training significantly more than just resistance training.
Since creatine also improves brain function and memory through improved cellular energy it can produce big benefits all the way around for seniors.
Creatine and Bone Health
Emerging research has also uncovered how creatine improves bone health. Creatine reduces osteoclast activity which reduces bone breakdown. It also increases osteoblast activity which increases bone building. When combined with resistance training this can help prevent osteoporosis. However this is much more effective if begun before bone loss begins to occur so women should focus on strength training throughout their life and in mid-life to prevent osteoporosis.
Creatine and Sleep Deprivation
Recent research has also shown that high dose creatine supplementation can help mitigate the negative effects of sleep deprivation. This requires a higher dose of 20 grams. Studies have shown that creatine supplementation can improve cognitive performance in sleep-deprived individuals, including enhancing processing speed and short-term memory.
High dose creatine supplementation is not recommended on a regular basis, and it will not substitute for consistent lack of sleep!
How much creatine to take for benefits?
For general strength and muscle building 5 grams per day of supplemental creatine is plenty to reap the benefits. There is science showing that loading doses of up to 20 grams per day can speed up benefits but over time 5 grams on a consistent basis is plenty to get all the benefits. For bone health a slightly higher dose of 8 grams per day is recommended.
Creatine Safety
Concerns are often raised over creatine and kidney health – like those raised about protein intake harming the kidneys. This is a myth that simply will not die despite the scientific facts – creatine in moderate doses (like 5 grams per day) does NOT do any damage to normal, healthy individuals with normal kidney function. For the full low down on this myth see this previous blog post: http://workoutanytime.blogspot.com/2018/10/is-creatine-safe-for-your-kidneys.html
