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Does creatine make you smarter?

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Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#41

Post by nonameiguess »

The conclusions aren't any different (it's one of the few thing that helps strength, poses no danger to your hair, and almost certainly does nothing for cognition), but the articles at https://www.strongerbyscience.com/?s=creatine are far more comprehensive, including the famous extremely long podcast episodes they used to do.

The one thing this misses is many supplements are tainted, which skews the popular perception of both upsides and risks. This was especially true in the US prior to 2005 or so when prohormones were still legal over the counter. Anything branded that wasn't just pure creatine was extremely likely to actually be a low-dose oral steroid, which really can make you lose hair and will increase strength quite a bit more than any dietary supplement.

This also misses caffeine as the other a-tier supplement that consistently shows strength increases in RCTs, though of course, caffeine is more frought than creatine because you build tolerance and it can disturb sleep.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#42

Post by exhumet »

throwup238 wrote: post #32
6thbit wrote: post #28

Why is creatine so popular lately? what changed?

It’s always been popular among athletes and weight lifters but now nootropic influencers have gotten ahold of it. It’s one of the few supplements with robust scientific evidence of a strong effect but that’s in athletic performance not nootropics.

another upside is its also hella cheap so its a very easy addin

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#43

Post by faangguyindia »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #21
faangguyindia wrote: post #17

Sometimes I stay up until 1–3 a.m. because I'm working on a problem that's so interesting I can't stop until I make progress. If I know I'm only going to get a few hours of sleep, I'll take 5–10 g of creatine, drink plenty of water, and go to bed. The next morning, I usually don't wake up with a headache. If I skip the creatine under the same conditions, I'm much more likely to wake up with a headache after a short n…

> If I know I'm only going to get a few hours of sleep, I'll ... drink plenty of water https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21517-dehydra...

from your link

>Headache pain often appears along with other signs and symptoms of dehydration, including darker-than-usual pee, dry mouth and fatigue

none of these symptoms are true for me.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#44

Post by faangguyindia »

pawelduda wrote: post #19
faangguyindia wrote: post #17

Sometimes I stay up until 1–3 a.m. because I'm working on a problem that's so interesting I can't stop until I make progress. If I know I'm only going to get a few hours of sleep, I'll take 5–10 g of creatine, drink plenty of water, and go to bed. The next morning, I usually don't wake up with a headache. If I skip the creatine under the same conditions, I'm much more likely to wake up with a headache after a short n…

Do you take monohydrate or HCL?

most common one, monohydrate.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#46

Post by geophile »

Isamu wrote: post #37
John23832 wrote: post #22

Most people taking creatine just need to drink water. They drink more water using creatine. In reality, the water/hydration is doing the heaviest lift, not the creatine.

A pity that water isn’t being sold as an expensive supplement. Or is it?

You're looking in the wrong place. There is a moderately large industry around water bottles.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#47

Post by Retr0id »

clayhacks wrote: post #38
Retr0id wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take my creatine with as little volume of water as possible, probably less than 50ml. I doubt that 50ml is having much impact on my overall hydration.

How much water are you drinking the rest of the day? Creatine in theory makes you more thirsty such that you should be drinking more water throughout the day

It's not something I track, but if it is making me thirstier then that sounds like another useful benefit.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#48

Post by slipnslider »

aeonik wrote: post #12

Studies I read seems to show a marginal boost in cognitionl and memory, but only if you were otherwise overtaxed for some reason. Like being tired, stressed, etc...

Yep. From what I read mental fatigue (mental math problems is what the study used) or sleep deprivation are two scenarios in which creatine boosted cognition and memory.

Here are the sleep deprivation studies

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16416332/

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#49

Post by jdiff »

Retr0id wrote: post #25
olooney wrote: post #11

Good discussion, but this conclusion: > I don’t know. Maybe a little. is not the right way to interpret the null result (insufficient evidence to reject null hypothesis that it has no effect) because the prior for supplements that people are trying to sell you is so low. In the absence of clear, strong evidence, you should assume the the whole thing is just an example of motivated reasoning. People want nootropics to…

If you're being academically rigorous about it, sure, but I think it's fine as an informal conclusion.

Even as an informal conclusion I think it's important to know who you're up against and what their motivations are. Waving that away is how we get people like known, obvious charlatans like RFK Jr in any sort of position of power. I know this is nitpicking word choice but the informal conclusion is "Not likely, and not enough to matter for anything."

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#50

Post by berkeatac »

clayhacks wrote: post #38
Retr0id wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take my creatine with as little volume of water as possible, probably less than 50ml. I doubt that 50ml is having much impact on my overall hydration.

How much water are you drinking the rest of the day? Creatine in theory makes you more thirsty such that you should be drinking more water throughout the day

yes but again, the idea is that it helps retains water in your muscles so I don't see it aiding in regular water intake
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