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Definitely! I would not recommend it to make up for lack of sleep for extended periods of time.

One of the things I'm trying to do better lately is to have a good sleep hygiene. Sun in the eyes early in the morning, no caffeine for the first 60 waking minutes of the day (adenosine absorption period), no screens 2 hours before bed and whatnot. Still, some nights I will just wake up in the middle of the night and won't be able to get back to sleep, then it's when I feel creatine helps

Edit: Typo

That's because creatine is missing in vegetarian diets. It is found in beef. Something to consider if you are thinking about going vegetarian.

Oh I’ve been mostly plant based for years, maybe that helps explaining the difference

The overall fitness is going to definitely have a positive effect on the perceived energy levels (my Vo2 max is at its highest ever). On the other hand, I have been very fit at other times in my life but have never experienced this "my head can just go on" feeling before. I used to take conscious breaks, do NSDR between meetings and other energy-replenishing tricks because I __needed__ them. It feels like now I don't

great question. Can I take creatine and skip the workout hassle?

You may not have taken enough. You need 15-20g/day for mental benefits. And long term, at least 2+ weeks.

The only difference I notice is a small increase in muscle strength after taking it for a month or so.

Some people report less GI distress with creatine HCL but it’s much more expensive.

The GI issues are caused by the creatine absorbing water. This causes your gut to have more water than usual as it follows the creatine through the works… which causes… urgency.

The effect diminishes after you’ve been taking a regular dose for a while, even with just monogydrate (not HCL).

Some people say HCL causes less distress because it doesn’t draw water as much. Others argue that defeats the purpose of taking it.

Monohydrate is studied to death and proven effective, HCL not so much.

Anything over 5g is hard on my stomach. I take it in my protein shake in the morning and dont notice any issues.

I took double the dose once and I regretted it. I was in the bathroom pretty often that day.

~5g most days, ~10g if I didn't sleep well. I'm currently 68kg

Creatine is one of the few if not the only supplements we actually know work. But with that said, my experience is that the bump is there but not world changing. Although it could be placebo, I don't think so because the first time I started taking it I noticed something but didn't make the connection because I noticed it playing basketball and not as much lifting. I could just sprint a lot easier. I recently started taking it again and again I noticed I can sprint easier and not be as spent. Of course you can improve by simply working out regularly, but IMHO the bump you get is obvious.

Can I go now?

That link sent me into a neverending redirect and reCAPTCHA loop, so very confused.

Thankyou!! I'm sure if you have experience in the medical space this sort of thing seems obvious, but to me (non-medical), the original phrasing was so confusing. Your explanation makes sense.

Original title is too long, I had to shorten it

I can concur on the short-term benefits for longer sets as well as the shorter recovery. Creatine is just one of those no-brainer supplements.

It's safe, cheap, and long-term-study proven to be extremely effective.

You will want to increase your daily hydration (at least for otherwise healthy men, a good sign is that you're "peeing clear") as Creatine does increase water retention.

any recommendation for tendon/joint pain? I'm in my early 30s, and try to lift regularly, but my joints/tendons seem to be the limiting factor when lifting, and not really muscle tiredness/soreness

I thought around 5g is the recommended daily dose?

I know that used to be the case. But its unfortunately not anymore. I am currently In RF and working on some resonators and waveguides. Recently I had the displeasure of reading some papers from top journals to survey what are some new designs that are being pursued. I was highly disappointed by the low bar of publishing. No characterisation of design, no repeatability study, no comsol files, no fringe field study. Most of the papers read like "we came up with design, tested it with the lowest hanging usecase and there are the results attached with a basic smith chart we made". How am I supposed to have any confidence in anything that is being published like this . The point of public funded research is so I don’t have to research and I can take that research and use/engineer it. But If this is the output then I am not going to spend money and time to do studies to figure out if someone else's research is viable or not because the peer review is broken and publishing bar is in the grave.

They're talking about vitamin D, which accumulates due to being fat soluble and is indeed toxic at a certain level[1]

It became something of a panacea nutrient, recently around COVID.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D_toxicity

I saw someone handing out samples of creatine at Costco the other day, spouting all sorts of stuff like it's a wonder drug.

It's definitely becoming mainstream.

I've taken it off and on for the past 15 years, the most noticeable effect is about 5lbs of weight gain. I do think it helps gym performance and the increased water retention mames for better muscle definition.

I understood the idea that you need to cycle creatine to be a myth.

Citation please? Creatine is one of the most studied modern supplements, and I have yet to see anything that says to you'd need to 'take breaks' from it...

I get it too if I don't drink a lot more water. So did many people on my sports team.

Creatine binds to water (making less water available to your muscles) and allows your muscles to work harder (which makes them need more water). So if you're not drinking a lot more water when you're taking creatine, you will get cramps from either dehydration and/or muscle overuse.

But once you're past the loading phase for creatine and getting sufficient hydration, it's supposed to lessen cramps because the water bound to creatine also becomes available for use again as the creatine is used by the body.

I get this unless I drink a lot of water. About 48 fl oz seems to be the right amount for 10g creatine. Sometimes this needs to be combined with a light snack, like a handful of nuts.

Did you try different sources I do not trust some of the stuff out there and often wonder if these supplements aren’t just generic white powder…

Why especially those?

i personally have problems with tinnitus and hearing loss, and creatine use tends to trigger it due to water retention so i stay off the stuff.

Creatine causes intramuscular water increases, not subcutaneous. Doesn't actually have a negative impact here.

I wasn’t being facetious. I seriously am asking if everyone should actually take creatinine and GLP-1.

you joke, but that is a real issue for some

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_creatine_deficiency

I've been smoking mine

Unhelpful. Sure, we can't do the same study in humans, but that doesn't mean the results are inherently applicable to humans

Fair. Missed that bit tbh.

Now I am imagining a 501-C where school children are encouraged to read studies to mice. Children get better at reading technical papers, mice learn more about their options! Win Win!

They already do in their own dimension, all that dying and running down the wrong track in those mazes is just to befuddle us silly hominids.

Source: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Mice

I, for one, welcome our future inmice overlords.