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Creatine+ is an advanced creatine system designed for longevity, strength, and cognition. Creatine+ combines ultra-high quality creatine monohydrate with HMB to increase lean muscle and strength and reduce muscle damage associated with exercise, and pomegranate extract standardized to punicalagins—precursors to urolithin A to promote mitochondrial renewal and cellular energy production.
The short answer
Creatine has long been recognized as one of the most effective nutritional strategies for supporting muscle strength and performance. But a growing body of evidence suggests that its benefits may extend beyond muscle.
Your brain relies on creatine, too.
Emerging research suggests that creatine may help support cognitive function—not by directly stimulating the brain, but by helping sustain one of its most fundamental requirements: energy production.
Studies suggest creatine may be particularly beneficial during periods when the brain's energy demands increase, including:
- • Aging
- • Sleep deprivation
- • Intense cognitive work
- • Menopause
- • Diets low in creatine-rich foods
While creatine is not a treatment for dementia or cognitive impairment, it is increasingly being recognized as a brain energy nutrient that may help promote cognitive resilience throughout life.
Why the brain needs energy
We often think of cognition in terms of memory, focus, and mental sharpness. Beneath all of these functions, however, lies something more fundamental: energy.
Although the brain accounts for only about 2% of body weight, it consumes approximately 20% of the body's resting energy expenditure.
Every second, neurons require ATP to:
- • Generate electrical impulses
- • Release neurotransmitters
- • Maintain ion gradients
- • Form and retrieve memories
- • Support attention and executive function
Unlike other tissues, the brain has relatively limited energy reserves. When demands increase, maintaining ATP production becomes critical.
Enter creatine: The brain's energy buffer
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound synthesized from glycine, arginine, and methionine. While approximately 95% of the body's creatine is stored in skeletal muscle, about 5% resides in tissues such as the brain.
Within cells, creatine exists in equilibrium with phosphocreatine. Together, they form the creatine/phosphocreatine system, which acts as a rapid-response energy reserve. When ATP is depleted, phosphocreatine donates a phosphate group to regenerate ATP. In essence, creatine helps ensure that cells have access to energy precisely when they need it most.
This role is especially important in tissues with high and fluctuating energy demands—like the brain.
Does creatine actually reach the brain?
For years, this was one of the biggest questions in creatine research. The blood-brain barrier tightly regulates creatine transport into the central nervous system.
Early studies showed that long-term supplementation could modestly increase brain creatine stores, but it remained unclear whether these changes were sufficient to meaningfully influence cognition.
That question began to shift with a series of recent studies examining what happens when the brain is placed under energetic stress.
Creatine may be most helpful when the brain is under stress
One emerging theme has become increasingly clear: Creatine does not appear to function as a universal cognitive enhancer.
Instead, its effects may be greatest when the brain's energy demands exceed its usual capacity.
Examples include:
- • Sleep deprivation
- • Aging
- • Menopause
- • Intense mental work
- • Low dietary creatine intake
Under these conditions, the brain may become more dependent on its phosphocreatine reserve.
Sleep deprivation: A window into brain energy
Sleep deprivation is one of the most powerful stressors affecting cognitive performance. After even a single night of inadequate sleep, people often experience:
- • Slower reaction times
- • Reduced vigilance
- • Poor concentration
- • Impaired decision-making
- • Mental fatigue
In 2024, researchers conducted one of the most fascinating creatine studies to date [1].
Healthy adults underwent approximately 21 hours of sleep deprivation while receiving either placebo or a single high dose of creatine monohydrate equal to 0.35 g/kg body weight—approximately 25 grams for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult.
Researchers then used advanced brain imaging techniques (31P-MRS and 1H-MRS) to examine changes in cerebral energy metabolism.
Compared with placebo, creatine supplementation:
- • Increased markers of phosphocreatine availability
- • Altered ATP-related energy measures
- • Prevented declines in brain pH
- • Improved processing speed
- • Improved cognitive performance during sleep deprivation
Importantly, this study demonstrated not only improvements in cognition, but also measurable changes in brain bioenergetics.
In other words, creatine didn't just improve performance. It appeared to change how the sleep-deprived brain generated and utilized energy.
Can lower acute doses work?
Researchers recently explored whether lower doses could provide similar benefits [2].
In a follow-up study, healthy adults undergoing the same sleep deprivation protocol received a single dose of 0.2 g/kg creatine monohydrate—approximately 14 grams for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult.
Compared with placebo, creatine reduced sleep deprivation-induced declines in:
- • Logical reasoning
- • Numerical processing
- • Language-related processing speed
- • Psychomotor vigilance
The cognitive improvements were smaller than those observed with the 0.35 g/kg dose but still reached approximately 12% improvement in selected outcomes. Females appeared to derive greater benefit than males in several domains.
These findings suggest that the brain's creatine requirements during acute stress may differ substantially from those required to support skeletal muscle.
Creatine and aging
As we age, maintaining cognitive vitality becomes increasingly important. Researchers have proposed that age-related changes in brain energy metabolism may contribute to declines in cognitive resilience.
A growing body of evidence suggests that creatine supplementation may improve aspects of cognition and memory in older adults, particularly under conditions of energetic stress.
A recent review concluded:
"Creatine supplementation can improve cognition and memory, especially in older adults or during times of metabolic stress." [3]
While more long-term studies are needed, these findings align with creatine's fundamental role in supporting ATP regeneration.
Creatine and women's brain health
Women undergo unique physiological transitions that may influence brain energetics.
Perimenopause and menopause are often accompanied by symptoms such as:
- • Difficulty concentrating
- • Mental fatigue
- • Mood changes
- • Slower processing speed
In 2025, researchers conducted the first randomized controlled trial examining creatine supplementation specifically in peri- and postmenopausal women [4].
Thirty-six women received one of four interventions for eight weeks:
- • Placebo
- • Creatine hydrochloride, 750 mg/day
- • Creatine hydrochloride, 1,500 mg/day
- • Creatine hydrochloride plus creatine ethyl ester (800 mg/day)
Women receiving 1,500 mg/day of creatine hydrochloride experienced:
- • Improved reaction time
- • Increased frontal brain creatine concentrations
- • Reduced mood swing severity
- • Improvements in concentration-related symptoms
Although preliminary, these findings suggest that supporting brain energy metabolism during menopause may represent a promising avenue for future research.
Note: Creatine hydrochloride is creatine bound to a hydrochloride molecule, aimed at improving solubility in water. Elysium’s Creatine+ contains creatine monohydrate—creatine bound to a water molecule and the gold standard for creatine supplementation with decades of clinical studies—in a micronized form for perfect solubility in water.
What about memory?
One of the earliest studies found that vegetarians supplementing with 5 g/day of creatine monohydrate for six weeks demonstrated improvements in working memory and intelligence test performance compared with placebo [5].
Researchers speculate that individuals with lower baseline creatine stores may be particularly responsive to supplementation [6].
Is creatine a nootropic?
Not exactly. Traditional nootropics are often thought of as compounds that directly enhance cognition.
Creatine appears to work differently. It supports the energetic machinery underlying cognition itself. Rather than stimulating the brain, creatine may help ensure that neurons have the energy required to perform their normal functions—particularly when demands increase.
For this reason, creatine may be better understood not as a "smart drug," but as a brain energy nutrient.
The bottom line
Every thought you have depends on energy. Memory, focus, reaction time, and mental clarity all emerge from the brain's ability to generate ATP and sustain the cellular work required for cognition. Creatine helps support that process.
Although best known for its role in muscle performance, emerging evidence suggests that creatine may also help promote cognitive resilience—particularly during periods of sleep loss, aging, menopause, and other forms of metabolic stress.
The science is still evolving.
But after decades of safety research and a growing body of evidence linking creatine to brain energetics, a new picture is beginning to emerge. Creatine may not simply be a supplement for athletes. It may be one of the most compelling nutritional strategies for helping support the energy systems that allow us to think, adapt, and engage fully throughout life.
Key References
1. Gordji-Nejad A, et al. Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation. Scientific Reports. 2024.
2. Gordji-Nejad A, et al. Single-Dose Creatine Reduces Sleep Deprivation-Induced Cognitive Deterioration at 0.2 g/kg. Nutrients. 2026.
3. Candow DG, et al. "Heads Up" for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Nutrients. 2023.
4. Korovljev D, et al. The Effects of 8-Week Creatine Hydrochloride and Creatine Ethyl Ester Supplementation on Cognition, Clinical Outcomes, and Brain Creatine Levels in Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women (CONCRET-MENOPA): A Randomized Controlled Trial. 2025.
5. Rae C, et al. Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance. Proc Biol Sci. 2003.
6. Xu C, et al. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2024.
