Mental Fitness

Creatine is involved in all of the body’s processes that require energy. So not only muscle cells contain creatine, but brain and nerve cells also have particularly high levels of creatine.

While creatine's role in improving physical performance is well studied, for a long time little was known about its effect on mental performance. In addition to muscle cells, brain and nerve cells use ATP as an immediately accessible energy source and during times of high-energy demand creatine is directly involved in supplying ATP. Increasing creatine levels translates into more available energy. Creatine deficiency on the other hand, which results from an impaired capacity of the human body to produce creatine, leads to serious physical and mental underdevelopment and even death.

Creatine supplementation at higher doses can increase creatine muscle reserves by 15–30%, markedly improving physical performance. Creatine supplementation has also been reported to increase the creatine content in the human brain, which, because of the positive impact on energy metabolism, results in better brain functioning and memory.

The effects of creatine supplementation on mental performance was investigated in a Japanese study published in 2002.

Subjects had to perform recurring calculations of random numbers printed on paper for 15 minutes, and another 15-minute task after 5-minute rest (Uchida-Kraepelin test, UKT). The subjects were told to calculate as many figures as possible. Typical results for this test indicate that initial performance goes down and then goes up again within the first 15 minutes. After resting for 5 minutes, the initial performance is higher compared to the end of the first 15 min, but decreases linearly thereafter (caused by mental fatigue).

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, creatine supplementation reduced mental fatigue when subjects repeatedly performed simple mathematical calculations.  Creatine significantly increased performance in the second 15 minutes in a group of 24 healthy volunteers (19 men and five women, 24.3 ± 9.1 years of age). This outcome is attributed to the fact that creatine improves the supply of oxygen to the respective regions of the brain.