Does creatine make you smarter? • Hacker News Board

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#251

Post by amluto » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 7:55 AM UTC

throwforfeds wrote: post #123

andy99 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To go off topic a bit further, I recently went into Walgreens to buy some bottled water, and other than Evian, it was all advertised as alkaline. Is that just a trend, was it already alkaline and now that’s just in fashion? Personally I see it and worry I’ll get an upset stomach if it start messing with my pH.

Water that's coming out of your tap is generally aiming for neutral (~7 ph). The alkaline waters in the store are using minerals to elevate it into probably the 9s. Like many hippie health trends that then go mainstream, a lot of it seems to filter in from Rastafarian traditions, where in the Ital diet they believe that alkaline water coming from the Blue Mountains in Jamaica (and other natural springs there which ar…

> Water that's coming out of your tap is generally aiming for neutral (~7 ph).

Not really. In the US at least, there’s the “Lead And Copper Rule”, which effectively requires utilities to adjust water composition to make the water minimally corrosive to copper and to lead. This often involves delivering water at a pH higher than 7. (San Francisco, for example, has water pH near 9, although it seems to be on the high end compared to other systems.)

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#252

Post by andai » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 7:56 AM UTC

block_dagger wrote: post #105

I have severe sleep apnea as well as insomnia. I may also be a multi-phasic sleeper. In any case my average sleep per night is ~3.5 hours with only ~1.5 hours of deep sleep. I use light therapy, CPAP, medications, etc but none of it solves my problems. I started taking creatine daily a couple of months ago. I've noticed a significant uptick in my cognitive abilities, despite being constantly sleep deprived. TFA doesn…

Thanks for sharing, that is very interesting. The article quoted several of the studies as saying that the benefits of creatine are mostly on "stressed" population. Maybe that's what's going on here?

It might have some kind of neuroprotective effect. For people who are already very healthy, there may be no measurable difference. But for the rest of us, it may be more helpful.

I'm reminded of something I read about dual n-back. (I forget where, it might have been Gwern page on it.) Someone said that when they are sleep deprived, they feel totally fine, but their n-back score absolutely tanks.

It might be interesting to test that, the intersection of sleep deprivation, creatine and objective measures of executive function. That could give us more data on the "helps most in stressed cases" theory.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#253

Post by andai » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 8:08 AM UTC

jadbox wrote: post #194

tyjen wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last year, I was severely sleep deprived, but needed to focus. On a whim, I took 25 grams of micronized creatine and it removed the issue with the dampened cognitive abilities. It just worked. It's nothing I would recommend as a long-term solution to sleep problems, but as a possible solution in a pinch, it could work.

Just a word of caution, 25g has a very strong chance of causing intense bloating. I'm part of multiple athletic teams, and the general consensus is that more than 10g is generally "uncomfortable" for its bloat pressure effects.

So my choice is between brain farts and regular ones... fortunately I work remote!

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#254

Post by freehorse » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 8:25 AM UTC

ttul wrote: post #203

overgard wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there really downsides to creatine though? (Genuine question). All the advice I've seen makes it seem like it's basically just good for you even if it doesn't accomplish some specific thing. The only downside I've heard is maybe water retention?

That's not the point. Often in medicine, the downside of using one thing is that you're not using another thing that would be safer and more effective. When people chase results from unproven therapies, often it means they're avoiding doing something else that is known to produce a result - even if the result of the alternative is not as spectacular as the unproven therapy promises to be. But speaking of creatine its…

Taking creatine does not bar you from doing other things. Being "low energy" is too general a thing, and to approach you probably need to start eliminating factors anyway until you find the issue, by getting better sleep, doing blood tests etc. Taking creatine can be part of this.

Creatine supplementation not having significant effect in X domain in population level does not mean that it will not have effect on YOU if for example you are vegan and don't get enough creatine from diet. If you have low energy, probably you have something that may not show in a population level. Similarly you may be low in B12 and then B12 can help you, but it may not show effects in population level if most of the population is not low in B12 (and your study is not powered enough to catch nuances).

It is not like when you have to choose between two medicines and excluding one can be harmful even if the other is not harmful to take per se. You can supplement creatine and try whatever else at the same time.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#255

Post by reassess_blind » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 8:37 AM UTC

Don’t know about cognitive effects, but it gives me around 10% more strength and a fuller, more muscular look.

If the cognitive effects are real, they aren’t noticeable to me without placebo effect. Meaning, I hadn’t heard any notion of creatine impacting cognitive function and I’ve been taking it on and off for years, and never noticed anything.

Thinking back, maybe an uptick in mood and a mental performance while tired? Purely unscientific, though.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#256

Post by somenameforme » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:06 AM UTC

zardo wrote: post #149

somenameforme wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is quite different because (1) creatine has been proven to be completely harmless for people of all ages absent some rare thing like a kidney disorder and (2) it has a bunch of clearly measurable positive effects. So this is more like trying to determine whether ginseng is good at keeping away colds or whatever. Maybe it does (actually quickly searching this, it definitely does but let's pretend it's as…

Is there a particular rare kidney disorder that creatine is contraindicated for? Because kidney disease is not rare, something like 14% of US adults have kidney disease.

I don't know the specifics beyond the fact that your kidneys play a key role in both synthesizing natural creatine and filtering out creatine from your body, and as thus is generally not recommended as a supplement if you have any sort of kidney disorder.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#257

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 9:48 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#258

Post by maleldil » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 11:13 AM UTC

zardo wrote: post #149

somenameforme wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is quite different because (1) creatine has been proven to be completely harmless for people of all ages absent some rare thing like a kidney disorder and (2) it has a bunch of clearly measurable positive effects. So this is more like trying to determine whether ginseng is good at keeping away colds or whatever. Maybe it does (actually quickly searching this, it definitely does but let's pretend it's as…

Is there a particular rare kidney disorder that creatine is contraindicated for? Because kidney disease is not rare, something like 14% of US adults have kidney disease.

Creatine raises creatinine in kidney function tests. For a healthy person, this isn't a problem, but if you already have high creatinine (from a kidney problem), it makes it harder to interpret test results.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#259

Post by Sammi » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

gtowey wrote: post #179

grvdrm wrote: post #158

I take 5g/day, through better part of last 9-12 months (don't remember when I started). No noticeable cognitive difference/improvement. And the more I've researched creatine the less convinced I am that there are reliable conclusions about cognitive impacts. Significant physical changes! But other than the pure aesthetics, it's hard to say that my strength increases are tied to creatine or instead a solid routine, pl…

It's my understanding that creatine doesn't directly make you stronger, instead it gives your muscles the ability to work a bit longer. This means you can do more strength training per session which is the part which makes you stronger.

Feeling like you can confidently take one more rep does feel like being stronger. Sure you're not stronger in the sense that you can lift more weight per rep, but being able to do more heavy reps is also a valid way to define feeling stronger.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#260

Post by Sammi » Thu, Jul 23, 2026, 11:52 AM UTC

lohith1710 wrote: post #241

I cant talk about scientific reasons, but from my experience, creatine has caused increase in hairfall for me.

You would have to start and stop several times before you could even start making anything out of that. Any one time correlation can very well just be chance.