10 Amazing Health Benefits of Creatine

Creatine, a naturally occurring supplement, is commonly employed to enhance physical performance in sports. Beyond its benefits for muscle and strength development, creatine is recognized for potentially improving cognitive function, combating certain neurological conditions, and accelerates muscle growth. Renowned for both safety and efficacy, it stands out as one of the most widely used supplements globally. Read our article, does creatine break a fast, and find out if you can incorporate it within your daily routine when you are following the fasting period. Numerous scientific studies support its effectiveness in building muscle and strength. Below are given:

1. Helps muscle cells produce more energy

The benefit of taking a creatine supplement is that it enhances muscle performance by increasing the phosphocreatine stores. These phosphocreatine stores play a vital role in the production of adenosine triphosphate(ATP), which is the key energy molecule for cells. When you exercise, your muscles use ATP for energy but they cannot generate it at the same rate that they get used, which limits how long you can keep going at high intensity. The supplements boost the levels of phosphocreatine, which makes it easier to produce ATP efficiently. It gives your muscles extra energy during intense workouts, making creatine a great choice as supplement for athletes and fitness freaks that aim to get stronger and have more endurance. 

2. Supports Many Other Functions in Muscles

Creatine is popular and a helpful supplement for making your muscles stronger. It helps in creating proteins that build muscle fibers and increases the hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which supports muscle growth. Another way creatine helps you is by adding more water to the muscles, making them bigger. All in all, creatine is a useful supplement for those who are aiming to get stronger and have more muscle. 

3. Improves High-Intensity Exercise Performance

As discussed above, creatine helps in making more energy during intense workouts. It not only makes you stronger but also helps you move quickly, in sprints, you can last longer during the exercises and recover your muscles after. It not only benefits the fitness enthusiasts, but is good for everyone, regardless of how fit you are. Some studies suggest that it may enhance intense workout sessions by 15%. If you are someone who wants to get more out of those intense workout sessions, adding creatine to your routine would be a good idea. 

4. Speeds Muscle Growth

Creatine is the go to supplement for building muscles. Even if you take it for a short period of time, say 5-7 days, it is going to make a big difference in adding to the size of the muscle and body weight. This increase happens because of the water retained in your muscles. In the long run, creatine not only helps with muscle growth, but also helps you perform better at the gym. People who use creatine, gain more muscle than those who do not. The aim is here to provide with you an insight that adding this super supplement to your daily routine would give you the aforementioned benefits. The reviews say that it is the best sports supplement globally, because it is cheaper yet safer than many others in the market. 

5. May Help with Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease happens when the brain doesn’t have enough of an important thing called dopamine. This shortage causes brain cells to die, leading to serious issues like shaky movements, muscle problems, and trouble speaking. In mice with Parkinson’s, creatine has been helpful, preventing a big drop in dopamine levels. But, we’re not sure if it has the same effect on people. People with Parkinson’s often do weight training to help with muscle problems. A study found that combining creatine with weight training made people with Parkinson’s stronger and better at daily activities compared to just training alone.

6. May Fight Other Neurological Diseases

In some brain diseases, like Huntington’s, there’s less of something called phosphocreatine. Creatine can boost these levels, and in mice with Huntington’s, it brought back 72% of what was there before, while others only got to 26% . This increase in phosphocreatine helped keep normal daily activities going and lowered cell death by about 25%. Studies on animals suggest that taking creatine might also help with diseases like Alzheimer’s, strokes, epilepsy, and brain or spinal cord injuries. Creatine has shown good results in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease affecting movement, improving motor skills, reducing muscle loss, and increasing survival rates by 17%. Even though more research on people is needed, some experts believe that using creatine with regular medicines could help guard against these brain diseases.

7. May Lower Blood Sugar Levels and Fight Diabetes

Research suggests that taking creatine supplements might help lower the sugar levels in your blood. This happens because creatine makes a molecule called GLUT-4 more active, and this molecule helps bring sugar into your muscles. In a study that lasted 12 weeks, they looked at how creatine affects blood sugar levels after eating a meal with a lot of carbs. People who used creatine and exercised had better control over their blood sugar than those who only exercised. This may raise the question, does creatine make you bloated? How quickly your body handles sugar after a meal is important for figuring out the risk of diabetes. The faster your body gets rid of sugar from the blood, the better. Even though these findings are positive, we still need more research on people to understand how creatine affects blood sugar control and diabetes in the long run.

8. Can Improve Brain Function

Creatine also is super healthy for our brains. When engaging in tasks that require a lot of mental energy, creatine helps. It would boost phosphocreatine in the brain which would lead to more energy creation. Creatine also helps our brain by increasing dopamine levels and how well the mitochondria work. Creatine is found in ample amounts in meat. Vegetarians and those who don’t eat much meat could benefit from taking a creatine supplement. A study shows that the creatine supplements improved the memory and test scores of the vegetarians by 20-50%. For the older folks, taking creatine twice a week shows a huge difference in their memory and recall ability. In general, most adults get protection from brain diseases and it slows down the loss of muscle strength which takes place when we get older.

9. May Reduce Fatigue and Tiredness

Including a creatine supplement in your daily routine would help you feel less tired and combat fatigue. There are certain studies that show that people who had a head injury, when took creatine, felt 50% less dizzy than those who did not take it. Another study found that creatine lowered the tiredness and gave more energy, even to sleep deprived people. Cyclists and endurance athletes take creatine as it reduces the fatigue during exercise. 

10. Safe and Easy to Use

Creatine is not only good for you in many ways, but it’s also one of the cheapest and safest supplements around. If you still have questions concerning the consumption of creatine and does creatine cause hair loss, then you should definitely give a read to our previous article. 

People have been studying it for more than 200 years, and lots of research shows that it’s safe to use for a long time. Even in studies that went on for up to 5 years, there were no bad effects in healthy people. And the best part is, it’s really easy to use – just take 3–5 grams of creatine powder every day. 

Conclusion 

Creatine is a really good supplement with strong benefits for both sports and health. It can help your brain, fight certain brain conditions, make you better at exercise, and build muscles faster. If you’re thinking about trying it, give it a shot and see how it works for you! Also it is highly recommended that you take expert advice from a healthcare professional or a dietician before including any supplements in your daily routine.