Creatine Isn’t Just for Muscles

by Dr. Jason Stevens, DCN, RD, LD

When most people hear “creatine,” they picture a burly guy in a tank top shaking up a pre-workout before hitting chest day. And there’s some truth here! Creatine absolutely helps with strength, power, and muscle growth. That part is well established.

But there may be something more going on. Research suggests creatine might also support your brain, your mood, your resilience to stress, and something a lot of my patients would call “brain fog.”

As a Registered Dietitian working primarily in men’s pelvic health, I’m not only interested in creatine’s effect on muscle mass, I’m also interested in how I improve my patients’ focus, recovery, and functioning in day-to-day life. Creatine has become one of the tools I keep in my kit for overall health.

What Is Creatine, Exactly?

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made from three amino acids (arginine, glycine, and methionine). Your body produces it primarily in the liver and kidneys, and it’s stored mostly in your muscle tissues, with smaller amounts in the brain. When we eat meat, we’re essentially eating other animals’ stores of creatine, which means you also get creatine from the diet, especially red meat and seafood. Supplemental creatine simply increases your body’s existing pool of creatine, enhancing its role in rapid energy production.

Yes, Creatine Builds Muscle

Creatine monohydrate is the most researched form of creatine, and it helps your muscles regenerate ATP (think of this as your body’s quick energy currency). That’s why it improves high-intensity performance, strength, lean mass, and training capacity. Decades of research back this up, and it remains one of the safest and most effective performance supplements available. But it doesn’t stop at your biceps.


Guess What? Your Brain Runs on Energy Too

Your brain is a hungry little energy goblin! Even though it makes up a small percentage of your body weight, it uses roughly 20% of your energy at rest. Creatine acts as a reserve system for rapid ATP regeneration, not just in muscle, but in brain tissue as well.

Over the past decade, research has looked at creatine’s impact on memory, processing speed, and mental fatigue. Creatine supplementation appears to improve memory performance, particularly in older adults. Research also shows benefits to attention and processing speed, especially under conditions of sleep deprivation or high cognitive demand.

Translation? Creatine seems to help most when your brain is stressed. And let’s face it, who isn’t under-slept, overworked, and mentally overloaded?


Brain Fog, Mental Fatigue, and Mood

While creatine isn’t a cure-all, research suggests it may reduce mental fatigue and support cognitive endurance in demanding situations. It appears especially helpful when baseline creatine stores are lower (such as vegetarians or older adults).

Surprisingly, creatine has been studied as an adjunct treatment for depression. Research suggests that adding creatine monohydrate to standard antidepressant therapy may lead to faster and greater improvement in depressive symptoms compared to medication alone. Lower dietary creatine intake is also associated with higher rates of depression.


Creatine and Brain Injury

Men are disproportionately represented in traumatic brain injury (TBI) statistics, whether from contact sports, military service, or accidents. Some early research suggests creatine may have neuroprotective potential and may support recovery after brain injury, though more large-scale human trials are needed.

While I’m not recommending creatine as a treatment for TBI, this is more evidence that creatine’s role goes way beyond muscle, and that supporting brain energy metabolism may help stressed or injured neural tissue.


Creatine and Healthy Aging

Creatine combined with resistance training also appears to improve strength and lean mass in older adults. And, likely due to its role in supporting brain energy metabolism, research also suggests possible cognitive support in aging populations. For men, I tend to think about how as testosterone declines and muscle mass naturally decreases with age, creatine can be part of a strategy to preserve both physical and cognitive strength.


What About Safety?

Although creatine has been studied for decades, myths around its safety have persisted for a long time. I can remember being told many years ago that taking creatine would hurt your kidneys and make you go bald! But, when taken at recommended doses (3–5 grams daily), creatine has an excellent safety profile. Creatine does not impair kidney function in healthy adults (but you should certainly talk to your doctor first before starting this, or any, supplement). And despite some initial concerns about baldness, no large studies have demonstrated actual hair loss caused by creatine supplementation.

Common side effects?
• Mild water retention (intracellular, not harmful bloating)
• Occasional GI discomfort (if taken in very large doses at once)
Otherwise, for healthy men, creatine monohydrate is one of the safest and most researched supplements available.


What about the Bladder?

If you’re dealing with urinary issues, you might wonder how creatine fits into all this. Creatine hasn’t been shown to directly cause bladder urgency or frequency in healthy men. The water retention creatine causes is intracellular (inside muscle cells), not the kind that increases urine production. If you notice more frequent urination after starting creatine, pay attention to what else has changed: are you increasing fluid intake? adding caffeine? That said, high doses may increase bladder sensitivity from gas/bloating increasing pressure in the pelvis.


Which Form Should You Use?

Creatine monohydrate remains the gold standard. It’s the most studied and the form used in nearly all cognitive and clinical research. Other forms haven’t shown superior benefits in studies.


How much?

For most men, I typically recommend 5 grams daily of creatine monohydrate, which is an amount that’s well researched for muscle benefits. While some research does suggest higher amounts may be needed for cognitive benefits (5-10 grams daily) or even as high as 20 grams during periods of sleep deprivation, it’s best to check in with a professional (such as an RD) before dosing higher.


Creatine Isn’t Just for the Gym

While there is no shortage of supplements out there promising to help you achieve mental and physical strength, many of them are a waste of time and money. Some of them are potentially dangerous. But creatine is safe, inexpensive, and effective, in and out of the gym.



References:

1. Dolan E, Gualano B, Rawson ES. Beyond muscle: the effects of creatine supplementation on brain creatine, cognitive processing, and traumatic brain injury. Eur J Sport Sci. 2019;19(1):1-14.

2. Roschel H, Gualano B, Ostojic SM, Rawson ES. Creatine supplementation and brain health. Nutrients. 2021 Feb 10;13(2):586.

3. Candow DG, Forbes SC, Ostojic SM, et al. “Heads Up” for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports Med. 2023;53(Suppl 1):49-65. doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9

4. Sharifian G, Aseminia P, Heidary D, Esformes JI. Impact of creatine supplementation and exercise training in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Rev Aging Phys Act. 2025;22(1):17. Published 2025 Oct 8. doi:10.1186/s11556-025-00384-9

5. Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18.

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This information is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding treatment, medications/supplements, or any medical diagnoses. This information is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way to substitute the advice of a licensed healthcare professional.