Creatine
Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."
Creatine is one of the most well-known health supplements. It's often caricatured as something just for gym bros because it helps them build muscle...
But actually, it's a veritable Mitochondrial Nootropic for all-around human awesomeness.
Biohacker Review
As a Nootropic
Vs Sleep Deprivation
Workout Performance Enhancer
History
Creatine Science
Vs Inflammation
On Sleep
For Baby Makin'
Creatine Forms
Mechanism of Action
Sources
Usage and Dosage
Side Effects
Cofactors
It's what your Mitochondria crave!
This article is mostly going to focus on decoding what the human studies are saying about Creatine and how this squares up with the anecdotal experiences of Biohackers online.
Creatine: The Biohacker's Swiss Army Knife for Brain & Brawn
Biohacker Review: The Swiss Army Knife of Mitochondrial support supplements
Yeah, I'm THAT GUY--bringin' supplements to the gym
Creatine was one of the first supplements I used out of the behemothic box I received from PureBulk.com because it's the Swiss Army Knife of Mitochondrial support supplements. I use it as both a Nootropic and workout performance enhancer, which I'll describe here along with summarizing the most recent science and research done on Creatine.
As a Nootropic
While I won't call it a smart drug, it does have subtle Nootropic effects; I notice myself being a bit more energized, optimistic, and motivated after taking a few grams of Creatine in the mid-morning. I did stack it with about 800 milligrams of N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine (NALT), which enhanced the Nootropic effects and kept me alert on a few days when I was a little underslept. I did take a heart rate variability measurement with my HeartMath device on this stack and achieved a coherence score of 1.2 while working on my laptop, which is a little of an uptick over my baseline.
I did take an HRV measurement with my HeartMath device on this stack and achieved a coherence score of 1.2 while working on my laptop - which is a little of an uptick over my baseline.
Creatine and the Brain
Because the brain and nervous system require such high amounts of energy , it’s logical to assume the neurological system can benefit greatly from creatine — and this is being corroborated by clinical research . A growing number of studies have found that creatine can protect the brain from neurotoxic agents and certain forms of brain injury . (2650-2652)
Mitochondrial Nootropic
Head Strong by Dave Asprey makes the case that optimizing your Mitochondria is the ultimate performance-enhancing Biohack because your Mitochondria are the fundamental energy generation mechanism that underlies everything else. From the book:
Creatine has been a workout staple for decades, but the guys in the weight room probably don’t realize that creatine works by increasing ATP production in your mitochondria. This is what gives your muscles an extra boost of energy. Creatine also benefits your brain. In one study, creatine supplements caused a significant increase in working memory and intelligence.
(p. 263)On the two-week Head Strong program, I recommend the loading phase so that you can feel the creatine’s effects right away. If you do this, be sure to drink a lot of water. (p. 264)
Vs Sleep Deprivation
A 2024 randomized trial found that a single high dose (about 0.35 g/kg) increased brain phosphocreatine and buffered the cognitive hit of overnight sleep loss.
If you're underslept, reach for some Creatine (and don't be shy about the dose). It assuages sleep deprivation, jet lag, stress, and fatigue generally because: "The more the brain is stressed, the more Creatine comes to rescue," according to Dr. Candow.
Creatine stacks well with one of my long-time daily driver Nootropics: L-Tyrosine. My first year as a brand-new dad was surprisingly productive thanks to this stack (and some other lifehacks).
Workout Performance Enhancer
One of the most reliable effects of Creatine is that you'll be able to push yourself a little harder in the gym. You'll walk home from the gym a little sorer than usual, but with a proud smile on your face for the gains you've made: pushing more weight, achieving more reps, or sweating it out more doing cardio. I stack it with one of my other favorite workout performance enhancers, HMB, for epic workouts that I'd be sore from for days if it wasn't for the recovery hacks I employ: red light therapy on my muscles, healing PEMF frequencies, and a before-bedtime massage from my lady.
Keep up with my fitness journey on the HEVY or Coach.me apps
The other thing I like about Creatine is the muscle pump; it does make your muscles look bigger if you take it and work out consistently. HMB has a complementary effect; it essentially preserves muscle mass if you're slacking on your workouts. So a vain yet economically-minded Biohacker would want to use them both; take 5 grams of Creatine and HMB on workout days to build muscle, and then if you need to take a few weeks off the gym for travel, work, or over the holidays, take just a few grams of Creatine daily as a Nootropic and HMB to preserve your strength gains.
A caveat on workout performance enhancers...
As Jeff Cavaliere of ATHLEAN-X preaches, you earn the right to take workout supplements. You probably shouldn't be cramming supplements in your mouth your first week or month in the gym - you should put in the work for a couple of months building up foundational strength and competence before turning to supplements. The kinds of performance enhancers I name here do unlock an extra reserve of power and motivation. They can make you overconfident in the gym when you shouldn't be, risking an injury that will ultimately set you back in your fitness.
A Muscle-Building Biohack
Ben Greenfield, in Boundless, breaks down why Creatine belongs in your bodybuilding armamentarium
With increases in exercise or muscle damage, your physiological need for creatine is increased. Research suggests that creatine supplementation can increase your muscles’ work capacity and power output while enhancing your lean body mass and physical endurance. Outside of the athletic population, creatine has been shown to reduce muscle breakdown and even to support cognitive function, especially in the elderly. Because creatine stores high-energy phosphate groups in the form of phosphocreatine, it releases energy to aid cellular function during stress. This effect causes strength increases after creatine supplementation and can also benefit the brain, bones, muscles, and liver. I recommend 5 g per day, preferably in one to three doses and mixed into warm water or another warm liquid to maximize absorption. (p.581)
History
Michel Eugène Chevreul--Clearly, he was on Creatine
Creatine was isolated in 1832 by Michel Eugène Chevreul from a water extract of meat. He named it from the Greek kreas, “flesh.” Justus von Liebig confirmed it as a normal constituent of muscle in 1847 and noticed that wild foxes killed in the chase had far more Creatine in their flesh than caged animals, an early hint that work and Creatine travel together.
Factoid: Performance enhancement effects were first noticed giving Creatine to a racehorse named Jolly.
Overview of Creatine Science
In the past decade, over 11,000 articles of scientific research specifically on Creatine have been published on PubMed, including over a thousand clinical trials. Let's take a look at several of them that jumped out at me...
A Spanish study compared Morning versus Evening Intake of Creatine in Elite Female Handball Players. It concluded that while circadian rhythm certainly affects performance, it didn't make much of a difference after 12 weeks in terms of performance and body composition. However, unless the evenings are the only time you can make it to the gym, I would only take it in my mornings or early afternoons, as it is a stimulating Nootropic that might mess with your sleep.
A Canadian-Italian study looked at the synergy of Creatine and caffeine. Gym buddies have occasionally looked at me funny when I showed up to the gym with a coffee in hand, but caffeine indisputably increases power output. And in my experience, black coffee doesn't mess with my stomach during a workout. However, the study reports that the uptick in performance from the combination was negligible. A recent systematic review evaluated ten different studies combining the two, and the conclusion is that there's no clear answer on whether the two actually complement each other. You'll have to try the stack for yourself and see if you like it.
Another Spanish study gave it to 23 basketball players for 8 weeks, which resulted in an improvement in both the Abalakov jump power test performance and A significant interaction effect was also observed in points per game.
A shorter Canadian-Iranian study administered Creatine to Twenty male military personnel for a week and noted an uptick in cognitive performance that could make all the difference for warfighters.
Moving beyond the "squat rack" science...
Vs Alzheimer's
A 2025 single-arm pilot in people with Alzheimer’s disease used 20 g/day of creatine monohydrate for eight weeks. Brain creatine rose about 11 percent on spectroscopy, and scores improved on total cognition, fluid cognition, working memory, and oral reading recognition.
Vs Depression
A 2026 narrative review of five randomized trials (238 people) found a mixed but non-trivial signal: 5 g/day of Creatine added to escitalopram in women with major depression produced a large additional drop on the Hamilton scale (Cohen’s d 1.13) and roughly doubled remission versus the SSRI plus placebo. Promising adjunct. Not a replacement for treatment.
For Recovery
Impressively, there are over 280 human studies on Creatine and recovery.
Dr. Candow appeared on Rhonda Patrick's podcast and spoke highly of its effects on recovery (both post-workout and between sets of a workout), in a deep-dive discussion worth a watch...
Vs Inflammation
A recent review sheds light on its anti-inflammatory effects...
Accumulating research also suggests that creatine supplementation has anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic properties, which may help create a favorable environment for muscle and bone accretion and recovery from exercise. Creatine supplementation has the ability to decrease markers of inflammation and possibly attenuate cancerous tumor growth progression.
And it does strengthen your bones, but only if you're actually working out. So get grandma Creatine and some pink dumbbells for Christmas!
Another European study suggests that it also improves anaerobic athletic performance; it increased power output during repeated sprints for Sixteen recreationally active males. It concluded...
[Creatine] supplementation improved the mean power and speed in the second half of a repeated sprint running protocol, despite the increased body mass. This improvement was due to the higher power output and running speed in the last 5 [seconds] of each 10 [seconds] sprint.
So if you're hiking in the woods with a buddy, DON'T SHARE YOUR CREATINE WITH HIM just in case the two of you are chased by a hungry bear! The verbal fluency-enhancing effects of Creatine will surely enable you to deliver a moving eulogy at his funeral.
On Sleep
There is no good clinical evidence that it causes insomnia. What the recent trials actually show is closer to the opposite, especially when the nervous system is under load.
- A six-week trial in menstruating women taking 5 g/day found about 45–50 more minutes of sleep on resistance-training nights versus placebo, measured with an Oura ring. Placebo sleep got shorter after lifting; Creatine appeared to blunt that hit.
- A 2025 seven-day loading study in men (20 g/day) improved subjective sleep quality and pulled bedtime earlier, without changing total sleep time or efficiency.
The insomnia reports you hear in forums usually travel with a caffeinated pre-workout, a 10–20 g late-night bolus, or just training later. If Creatine itself is keeping you up, move the dose to morning or with a meal.
For Baby Makin'
Sperm run on Creatine. A 2025 eight-week pilot (5 g/day, with or without ubiquinol) found 60% of men on Creatine improved sperm concentration versus 20% on placebo, and every oligospermic man on Creatine improved. Small study, right direction. Pregnancy research is early and clinical, not a DIY prenatal stack.
The Greatest Gift I Got 🎄 Reading to Phoenix: Trouble for Trumpets
Post-pregnancy, my wife took Creatine daily, and we think it helped her energy levels (also, at 41 years old, she is still nursing daily after nearly 15 months. Bravo, babe!)
Forms of Creatine
Marketing loves a new salt. The ISSN-aligned critical review of alternative forms is blunt: there is little to no evidence that newer creatines are more stable, faster, more effective at raising muscle creatine, or cleaner on side effects than monohydrate.
- Creatine Monohydrate (especially micronized). Gold standard. Near-complete oral bioavailability. Micronized just mixes better.
- Creatine hydrochloride (HCl). Truly more water-soluble. That is real. What is not real is the “38× more bioavailable, so take 750 mg” claim. Solubility in a glass is not the same as muscle uptake. Qualifying head-to-head muscle-creatine trials are thin to nonexistent. Fine if your stomach hates monohydrate grit. Not an upgrade on efficacy
- Buffered creatine / Kre-Alkalyn. Sold as pH-stable, so it will not turn into creatinine in the stomach. A 2012 randomized trial found no advantage over monohydrate for muscle creatine, strength, or body composition.
- Gummies and chews. Same molecule in a worse format. Independent tests have repeatedly found products underdosed. Only worth it if the brand publishes third-party assays showing a full 3–5 g of actual Creatine per serving.
Verdict: If it ain't broken, don't fix it--buy patented Creapure or another third-party-tested monohydrate.
Mechanism of Action
From Dr. Lee Know's recent book
Creatine is directly related to ATP . When a cell uses ATP , it loses a phosphate molecule and becomes ADP , which must be converted back to ATP for useful energy cycling . Because creatine is stored in the body as creatine phosphate , it can donate a phosphate molecule to ADP to regenerate ATP . This process is very speedy and is the main source of cellular energy production at the start of high - intensity anaerobic activity ( such as a 100 - meter sprint or lifting heavy weights ) . Having a large pool of creatine phosphate means this fast pathway of ATP regeneration can be sustained longer , which is exactly why creatine has been so beneficial for athletes . (2640-2645)
Sources
My go-to source is PureBulk.com--what makes their product stand out is that it's verified as pure with a certificate of analysis from an accredited American lab. This evidence of purity is something you should demand from your local gym supplement shop or the sellers on Amazon, which likely can't provide it.
BulkSupplements.com in the USA is also a decent source for Micronized Creatine Powder. If you prefer capsules, I recommend Double Wood's purity-verified supplements.
In the EU, where I live, my go-to source is Jotunheim Nutrition.
Any product with patented Creapure® (or Creapure) is a good buy.
Downloadable Creatine?
You may be interested in taking it as an infoceutical - a non-pharmacological, side-effect-free version of the supplement that takes advantage of the phenomenon of water memory - which is imprinted on water via quantum collocation and electromagnetism using this device...
Infocueticals typically have 1/3 or half the effect of the actual medicine being imprinted. If you're skeptical of Infopathy, that's understandable; it's a game-changing application of a little-known scientific phenomenon. But I'd urge you to evaluate the scientific evidence (presented in my biohacker review) that downloadable medicine is no longer science fiction...
Usage and Dosage
Recommended daily dose
- 5 Grams - for maintenance of general health
- 10 grams - The middle-ground performance optimization dose for stronger muscles, bones, and brain.
- 20 grams - for aggressive muscle growth, or days when you are particularly stressed, fatigued, or underslept
Some experts contend that with Creatine, more is more--"Get crazy with +20 grams daily!" There's no real risk to experimenting with mega-dosing, so if you buy the stuff in bulk powdered, why not?
Some advocate a...
“loading phase” in which you take 20 g daily (four doses of 5 g) for a week, then 5 g daily to maintain after that.
Others contend that's unnecessary. A suggestion for absorption...
Creatine gets into your muscles more effectively if you pair it with a tiny amount of glucose. You don’t need much, so I recommend taking it with a quarter of a teaspoon of raw honey. (p. 264)
Capsuled vs Powdered
I appreciate having both the powdered and capsuled Creatine. Many mornings I'd mix a couple of grams of powdered Creatine (which has a not-awful, tangy taste) in a beverage or yogurt with other supplements. Then, before rushing out the door to the gym, I'd drop a capsule or two for extra energy in the domain of iron.
Side Effects
Not much to worry about here. "If our body doesn't like it, our body just excretes it," according to Dr. Candow.
- Intracellular water weight - Typically 1–2 kg in the first weeks. Water is pulled into muscle, not under the skin as “bloat.” Scales jump. That is the mechanism, not fat.
- GI distress - The only consistently reported nuisance. Almost always from a large single bolus (loading 20 g, or 10 g+ on an empty stomach). Split the dose, take it with food, use more water, or drop to 5 g. Micronized powder helps some people.
When I first started taking Creatine years ago, my wife was worried that it might cause hair loss (she really LOVES my hair) because of a small study she had seen that noted that effect among Spanish soccer players. I looked at this and found the statistical effect unconvincing. Since there's better research done on this, Does Creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trial--of 45 men.
This study was the first to directly assess hair follicle health following creatine supplementation, providing strong evidence against the claim that creatine contributes to hair loss.
Here's my hair--on Creatine...
Hair gains--goin' hard in the gym
Risk Grade: A-
- One of the most studied supplements in existence. Short- and long-term use (including up to 30 g/day for years in some clinical cohorts) has a clean safety record in healthy people.
- Real downsides are GI upset at clumsy doses, a confusing creatinine lab value, and intracellular water weight. Those are nuisances, not organ toxicity.
- The practical risk that actually bites consumers is product quality: under-dosed gummies, proprietary “advanced creatine” blends on Amazon, and stacks that hide 1–2 g of Creatine behind a $50 label. Buy monohydrate with a certificate of analysis.
Main risk of Creatine: Being dangerously sexy
Cofactors
The Mighty Muscle Growth Dream Team Stack: Creatine, Collagen, Whey Protein & HMB
If you're serious about putting on muscle, stack these three on with Creatine...
Collagen
Since it's a crucial component of our muscles, it's an exercise or muscle-building hack. There are 12 clinical trials evaluating its effects on exercise. You'd want to take at least 15 grams daily.
Whey Protein
30-60 grams of whey protein and 3 grams of HMB is a body composition hack for healthy adults, according to a recent resistance-training study, which showed increased fat-free mass over twelve weeks. You might be wondering about the clinically validated difference between whey protein and Collagen; a Brazilian study of lifters found that Collagen had a greater effect on power output, while whey protein resulted in larger muscles. Good to know for... Swimmers (both will make you tastier to sharks!)
HMB
I did find a meta-analysis specifically on the Creatine and HMB stack that I'm taking that evaluated six papers and concluded...
In summary, the combination of 3-10 g/day of [Creatine] plus 3 g/day of HMB for 1-6 weeks could produce potential positive effects on sport performance (strength and anaerobic performance) and for 4 weeks on body composition (increasing fat free mass and decreasing fat mass).
Here's a handy chart for the Mighty Muscle Growth Dream Team Stack
| Compound | Workout days | Rest days | Notes from the evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creatine monohydrate | 10 grams - 20 grams | 5 - 10 grams | 3–5 g maintains saturation after an optional 5–7 day load of ~20 g split into 4 doses. 8–10 g if bone/brain is also the goal. |
| Whey protein | 25–40 grams in the peri-workout window | Enough to hit 1.6–2.2 grams/kg total daily protein | The 30–60 g range in the current article is a full-day or multi-shake figure, not a single sitting for most people. |
| Collagen peptides | 15 grams | 15 grams | Matches the 10–15 g range used in the exercise-and-connective-tissue trials already cited on the page. |
| HMB (preferably Ca-HMB or HMB free acid) | 3 grams | 3 grams | The dose that shows up in the Creatine + HMB meta-analyses: about 3 g HMB with 3–10 g creatine for 1–6+ weeks. |
Practical stack on a training day: 5 g creatine + 15 g collagen in one drink, 30–40 g whey around the session, 3 g HMB split or with a meal. Drink water. You do not need 20 g of Creatine every day just because the stack is “aggressive.” Muscle creatine saturates; extra mostly ends up as creatinine.
Cordyceps
I would like to stack it with Cordyceps; a combination highly recommended by my friend Dinnin.
Shrooms
Biohacker (and large human) Thomas DeLauer suggests as Nootropic cofactors for a multiplied neurogenesis effect, Lion's Mane or Reishi mushroom.
Creatine--It's what your Mitochondria crave!
If you're interested in supporting your Mitochondria but a little confused by the dizzying number of supplemental options to do so out there, just start with Creatine, which is very affordable. Creatine is a no-brainer...
You can take just a little or as much as 5 grams
You can take it just on workout days or every day
Stack it with other performance enhancers or don't
You don't need any fancy form of Creatine - just go with Creatine Monohydrate
Regardless, it will benefit your myriad Mitochondria - you'll feel (and likely look) better!
I made an (AI) song about Creatine...
Nootropic Ingredients
Photos
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