A recent study demonstrated that creatine supplementation significantly enhances cognitive processing speed following 21 hours without sleep. In the experiment, 15 adults took a single 20 g dose of creatine, resulting in improvements of language processing speed by 29%, numerical processing by 24%, logical reasoning by 16%, and word memory by 10%, while the placebo group showed no such effects.
The mechanism behind creatine’s effect lies in replenishing ATP stores — the cellular “battery” molecule essential for energy supply. Sleep deprivation depletes ATP reserves, but creatine restores energy through the phosphocreatine system, as confirmed by MR spectroscopy showing increased phosphocreatine, stabilized pH levels, and reduced cellular stress.
Thus, creatine is not only beneficial for muscles but also serves as an effective means to temporarily enhance cognitive functions under sleep loss and intense workload. However, it should be viewed as an aid rather than a substitute for sleep.
