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Does creatine make you smarter?

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Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#161

Post by dundarious »

switchbak wrote: post #93
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…

What I'm getting from all this is that we have an armchair expert explaining details about something they're not an expert in, and we have you reviewing the way they present this information, saying their very weak hedge wasn't strongly negative enough. Based on priors about the industry. Basically, HN doing HN things - having a good deep think about topics outside their realm of expertise, then debating the minutiae…

"HN doing HN things" over someone saying "good discussion, however, one point about the conclusion" and having that point be very rational and still open to debate.

Is discussing such secondary but still highly relevant aspects verboten? Must every comment here be by a lead researcher in the specific field? Would a biomedical science researcher necessarily have any more expertise on these important secondary aspects?

"Trust me, I'm a scientitian". No thanks.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#162

Post by infinite_spin »

NopIdoN wrote: post #81
Retr0id wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I take creatine for entirely non-cognitive reasons, so it's reassuring to know it's probably not making me any dumber.

it might even be counteracting the negative effects of your frequent contact with airborne nitrogen

what negative effects? N2 is inert under physiological conditions.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#163

Post by infinite_spin »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #94
Retr0id wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I take creatine for entirely non-cognitive reasons, so it's reassuring to know it's probably not making me any dumber.

Though you also have to consider potentially adulterated powder (accidental or not) in the unregulated supplement industry. That's why I dropped creatine since I didn't notice any benefits when I tried it for a year.

It's not unregulated.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B...

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#164

Post by throwup238 »

6thbit wrote: post #124
throwup238 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

and that scientific evidence is new? like a new study boosted this or just resurfacing?

No, creatine has been studied for decades and it’s been part of fads before (I remember Mac making a joke about creatine shits in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia a decade ago).

It’s just resurfacing as a general health fad/marketing campaign.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#165

Post by dotcoma »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #104
131012 wrote: post #90

I think another source of variation on the results is the actual nutritional intake of the subjects. The vegan/vegetarian is a big spectrum. A vegetarian eating plenty of dairy products and eggs should in theory be much better creatine-equipped than a poor vegan student feeding on noodles and ketchup pastas. A lot of pseudo-meat for vegans are full of processed shit. Confusion will be even higher if you include fish…

> if you include fish in the vegetarian diet, which is odd but some people do that. Meat Is Murder but Fish Is Justifiable Homicide.

It's OK to eat fish cause they don't have any feelings

- Something in the way, Nirvana

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#166

Post by 0xmattf »

sdevonoes wrote: post #160
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…

Im curious, since I don’t drink coffee nor take protein supplements and the like, my question is: is the plan you keep taking what you take, let’s say, “forever”? Because the moment you stop taking, wouldn’t you notice a big drop?

> Because the moment you stop taking, wouldn’t you notice a big drop?

No. They're not steroids.

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#167

Post by zorobo »

econ wrote: post #155
bhelkey wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a brand of creatine manufactured in the US (con-cret) and a brand manufactured in Germany (Creapure). Either of those companies should address the concern around adulterated powder. > That's why I dropped creatine since I didn't notice any benefits when I tried it for a year. Some percentage of people (~20%) are creatine non-responders [1]. It's pretty reasonable to try creatine and then drop it if you find…

For me it has an insanely large effect. Roughly 30% more reps and endurance.

When I stopped taking it, I went from 12 reps to 10, and slower recovery.

My level at tennis dropped too, but bicycle endurance remained the same.

I stopped because of high blood creatinine, and wanted to see what baseline was

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#169

Post by gavinray »

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…

There was actually a VERY recent study on mega-dose creatine for sleep deprivation:

  > "Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation"
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

You need a dose high enough to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, around 0.3g/kg (so ~30g for a 100kg person).

Re: Does creatine make you smarter?

#170

Post by 0xmattf »

TIPSIO wrote: post #40
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.

I don’t know. I personally wouldn’t take it if you aren’t also working out/lifting frequently (even if you drink a ton of water). Anecdotal so safe to ignore this… but my hair did thin out but only after I was lazier on my work outs. Stopped taking and hair mostly returned to normal thank God.

> but my hair did thin out but only after I was lazier on my work outs.

How old are you?

Also, working out helps reduce stress. Does it seem more plausible that getting lazier on your workouts, rather than the creatine, increased stress in your life, thus the hair thinning?

I have never heard of creatine causing thinning hair.

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