What does creatine actually do for muscle, brain, and sleep?

About this episode

881. Bodybuilders have been taking creatine for decades, and its effects on strength and muscle mass are well established. Lately it's also being sold for brain health, better sleep, and menopause. The evidence on those newer claims is a lot thinner, but it isn't nothing. Creatine is stored mostly in your muscles, where it powers short bursts of high-intensity effort. Your body makes some of it, and you get the rest from meat and fish, which is why vegans tend to run lower. Stores also decline with age as muscle mass drops. Monica walks through what the research actually shows, including her own experiment with creatine supplementation: • Why creatine doesn't build muscle directly, and what it does instead • The 2 to 5 pounds of water weight most people gain in the first few weeks, and why it isn't the kind you'd notice in your jeans • What a 2025 meta-analysis found about creatine, resistance training, and strength in adults over 50, and why the training group eventually caught up • The sleep-deprivation studies, where a single large dose measurably improved memory and processing speed for up to nine hours • Why women may respond differently than men • What the cognition resea