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Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

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Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#171

Post by snovv_crash »

merlindru wrote: post #145
tacone wrote: post #100

The first time I took creatine (6g IIRC), I actually felt the mental effect just 2 minutes later. A pleasurable sensation of augmented presence and (mental) relaxation. I paused taking that momentarily out of precaution while I wait some physical issue to normalize, but I plan to resume it in some weeks. Also it is considered a very safe supplement.

How can you be sure you weren't placebo'ing yourself into feeling it? To my knowledge creatine has no significant effects until your levels rise after, say, a week of taking daily

I've felt dehydrated while I'm in loading phase, it's very noticeable from that perspective. But the mental effects only come after at least a week (for me: longer attention span, less impacted by poor sleep).

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#172

Post by YZF »

softwaredoug wrote: post #51
el_benhameen wrote: post #49

Curious if anyone has had hair issues while taking it. I’m aware that there’s no positive evidence for an effect, but there is an at least plausible mechanism. I’ve gone through two periods where I took it and liked the effects, but felt like I shed way more hair and stopped due to that.

I take 10 g a day and have maybe noticed muscles seem to bulk more after a hard strength workout. But other than that I feel about the same.

More water in the muscles is another effect. Also placebo. I do notice I'm a bit heavier when I'm on creatine.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#173

Post by YZF »

adamking wrote: post #2

Creatine is one of the few supplements I actually notice a difference if I quit taking. Happy to see it’s benefits extend to beyond performance in the gym.

The only thing I notice is the impact to my weight. I think it makes me marginally stronger but not a huge effect. I take it because research seems to indicate it's a net positive with a small effect and it seems very safe...

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#174

Post by kbrisso »

I'm 56 and have been experimenting with it. It definitely helps me stay laser focus on a task. I take between 10 to 15 grams a day in multiple doses. It does help with brain fatigue if you don't sleep well either. I'm also on keto diet and it helps me at the gym. Here is the thing everyone's DNA is different - keto works for me because I have tried it on and off. I have way more energy off carbs. I can also tolerate creatine, some people can't.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#175

Post by comboy »

Since we are throwing in random N=1, it is very well tested and safe yes. But in my personal experience it does limit my creativity somehow. It seems to have like slightly calming/lower anxiety effect, and to me it comes with me coming up with fewer interesting things. Kind of lowering the model temperature if you will. Curious if anybody had a similar experience.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#176

Post by trehalose »

zug_zug wrote: post #58
WhitneyLand wrote: post #36

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself. There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

>> Recently, a pilot study (single-arm) by Smith et al., recruited 20 patients (73 years of age) with AD and provided them with 20 grams/day of CrM for 8 weeks [20]. Serum creatine levels were increased at weeks 4 and 8 (p Yeah 20 patients is not a lot. I'm inferring this is a pre-post test. However some of those p-values are pretty good (.001 on reading and and sorting). Very promising pilot study but not conclusive…

I wouldn't even call it "promising but inconclusive" so much as "not conclusively a dead-end for further research". In a single-arm open-label study, with no blinding, both the participants and the researchers know who's getting what. You need a placebo and double-blinding for comparison against the active group and to adjust for any ways in which the researchers may have unwittingly influenced the results. (Or perhaps even wittingly, when there are conflicts of interest. I spent half a minute looking up this study and didn't see any statement attesting that there were none.)

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#177

Post by basch »

cobolcomesback wrote: post #120
zug_zug wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can second this, do NOT start at 25g of creatine. If you're too lazy to read the literature a friendly AI tool will summarize it.

Most guidance I’ve seen says to start with a loading phase of 25-30g per day for several days, then go down to 5g per day maintenance.

Per day being a key part of that. 30g at once is going to give a good chunk of people pretty severe cramping or a trip to the bathroom.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#178

Post by rpozarickij »

almost_usual wrote: post #156
cadr wrote: post #142

I feel like for me it would be thwarted by the fact creatine seems to completely mess up my sleep. I don't remember that from when I was younger, but recently tried adding it to my diet and had to bail.

I counteract it with Magnesium Glycinate. Works well for me.

Magnesium Taurate is the form of magnesium I settled on. I take 1500mg of it (300mg elemental Mg) every evening before sleep, but I feel that even half of this dose has a noticeable effect on my sleep.

Magnesium Glycinate was destroying my sleep even when I took it in the afternoon. I'd wake up after 4-5h of sleep and would feel completely alert as if it was midday and then tiredness would slowly ascend on me over the next few hours but I'd still be unable to fall asleep.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#179

Post by YZF »

brunooliv wrote: post #56

Side question: I've always been a recreational runner, running 3/4x a week, completed a few half marathons, and recently decided to _also_ go to the gym to do strength training as it has a lot of benefits for runners too. Should I consider/take creatine, is it useful?

I run and do strength training. I think the consensus is that it's not that beneficial for running. You're going to gain a bit of weight which presumably is going to make you slower.

If you were a competitive runner then you'd probably want to cycle it so that you get the strength training benefit but also optimize for your races.

I take it. I did a 10k race and stopped for two weeks. I'm also not super consistent but I try to take about 5-10g a day.

In terms of optimizing overall health I would say take it + running + strength training is a good combination. The effects are not huge and vary person to person.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#180

Post by pitched »

fer wrote: post #138
zug_zug wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Recently, a pilot study (single-arm) by Smith et al., recruited 20 patients (73 years of age) with AD and provided them with 20 grams/day of CrM for 8 weeks [20]. Serum creatine levels were increased at weeks 4 and 8 (p Yeah 20 patients is not a lot. I'm inferring this is a pre-post test. However some of those p-values are pretty good (.001 on reading and and sorting). Very promising pilot study but not conclusive…

.001 for creatine levels isn't surprising; that's a lot of creatine. I'd explain the cognitive tests with the practice effect, because it is unlikely that creatine had such a massive effect and we only discover it now.

I hear about tech bros taking creatine these days with the tone of voice that they use to talk about microdosing. So I can’t imagine it having zero effect.

What I worry about more is that it has more to do with fixing a deficiency. That being deficient in creatine causes a cognitive loss more than supplementing causes a boost.

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