Taking a large dose of creatine might increase creatine levels in a specific brain region within a few hours, even during sleep deprivation, which could help maintain brain energy during extended wakefulness.
Scientific Claim
A single high dose of creatine (0.35 g/kg) may increase cerebral total creatine to N-acetylaspartate ratio (tCr/tNAA) by approximately 4.2% in the left medial parietal region of young healthy adults within 5.5 hours of administration during 21 hours of sleep deprivation, indicating increased brain creatine availability.
Source Excerpt
“Supplemented creatine yielded significant increase of cerebral tCr/tNAA versus baseline in the left medial parietal region at 2 a.m. (5.3±4.1%, t12=4.1, p12=0.003) and when pooled at all 3 time points (4.2±1.4%, t42=2.9, p42=0.006) (Table S3, Fig. 3, 4). Due to the challenging shimming in the frontal lobe region, 1H spectra fit values from only 6 subjects were available.”
Evidence from Studies
Supporting Studies
Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation
The study used 1H-MRS to measure tCr/tNAA ratios and found a statistically significant increase in the left medial parietal region after creatine administration compared to baseline during sleep deprivation, providing direct evidence of increased brain creatine availability.