This is such a crazy substance. I'm 43 and I feel like I have more energy than I have ever had before. I started taking it during recovery from a bad ankle fracture since it helps building muscle mass. Once the ankle was better I took up CrossFit, and kept on taking creatine because why not, it helps replenish ATP so I will be able to give the extra-push when working out, I thought.
What is blowing my mind though is that at $dayjob my team is going through a crazy crunch to deliver a very strategic project and some of us are pushing 10-12h days often. I'm in hour 12 today for the second day in a row, and my head is not tired at all. Turns out the brain also uses a lot of ATP too, specially during demanding cognitive tasks so I guess it is creatine that is keeping the engine running smoothly even after so many hours.
I will like once every week or two have a poor night sleep. These days I take twice the dose and I don't feel like I'm sleep deprived at all. Feels like cheating! And apparently no side effects at all so far. Well, maybe I'm working too much.
If you would, please explain or point me to the material where you get your higher dosage recommendation. (I always heard and understood proper dosage to be 5–7.5g/day, 10g/day at the most. I’d like to correct my error if I’m mistaken.)
Sorry i dont have strong views on the fact under question but 1) pointing to an entire podcast is not a very helpful suggestion 2) I listened to a few episodes on issues I know about and can just say that the guy is speaking with confidence but just making it all up. So much false info or at best hearsay repackaged as supposedly scientific advice.
Agreed, Huberman (and his guests) strike me as charlatans, with their “protocols” du jour. And given the number of creatine posts on HN of late, I suspect that guerrilla marketing and astroturfing are at play too.
I mean creatine monohydrate costs like 20€/kg off of Amazon.
Taking it 2 weeks is not a big investment, and by that time you'll know whenever it works for your body or not.
The thing that's unclear is wherever there are long term health issues when taking a lot of creatine over months and years - but with it being so cheap and highly available by countless cheap brands, astroturfing initiatives would be highly unlikely.
<10g is the correct dosage for the non-mental benefits
But inversely, unless you actually go above 10, eg 15... The blood saturation isn't enough for your brain to take advantage of it.
But there is very little studied about sustained use of such a dosage. (Only short term - eg 1 week - which isn't long enough for the benefits again)
It's safe enough for anecdotes of people doing it for years and not having issues - but despite others claiming that it's well studied, it's really not - at least not with dosages above 5g in humans.
Personally I've been doing so for a year now and can unquestionably confirm a strong effect, which goes away if I reduce the dosage below the threshold. So at least my body responds to it.
But you're not getting a proper study unless you get thousands of people to take it for years... Which is basically impossible as there are too many confounding factors to get meaningful results.
And organizing such a study is gonna be too expensive too, with no sponsors willing to take up the tab
I've already written and edited this comment a lot, but as a final remark I'd like to point out that the benefits I'm referencing is having an easier time concentrating. This can also be a demerit, as you can easily be caught thinking about something for pretty long before you realize.
nsbk · · focus · HN ↗
What is blowing my mind though is that at $dayjob my team is going through a crazy crunch to deliver a very strategic project and some of us are pushing 10-12h days often. I'm in hour 12 today for the second day in a row, and my head is not tired at all. Turns out the brain also uses a lot of ATP too, specially during demanding cognitive tasks so I guess it is creatine that is keeping the engine running smoothly even after so many hours.
I will like once every week or two have a poor night sleep. These days I take twice the dose and I don't feel like I'm sleep deprived at all. Feels like cheating! And apparently no side effects at all so far. Well, maybe I'm working too much.
iamacyborg · · focus · HN ↗
I’ve previously stopped taking it for a couple months and noticed no real difference in physical or mental ability.
ffsm8 · · focus · HN ↗
iamacyborg · · focus · HN ↗
treetalker · · focus · HN ↗
DenisM · · focus · HN ↗
goobatrooba · · focus · HN ↗
treetalker · · focus · HN ↗
ffsm8 · · focus · HN ↗
Taking it 2 weeks is not a big investment, and by that time you'll know whenever it works for your body or not.
The thing that's unclear is wherever there are long term health issues when taking a lot of creatine over months and years - but with it being so cheap and highly available by countless cheap brands, astroturfing initiatives would be highly unlikely.
DenisM · · focus · HN ↗
Which option seems preferable to you?
ffsm8 · · focus · HN ↗
But inversely, unless you actually go above 10, eg 15... The blood saturation isn't enough for your brain to take advantage of it.
But there is very little studied about sustained use of such a dosage. (Only short term - eg 1 week - which isn't long enough for the benefits again)
It's safe enough for anecdotes of people doing it for years and not having issues - but despite others claiming that it's well studied, it's really not - at least not with dosages above 5g in humans.
Personally I've been doing so for a year now and can unquestionably confirm a strong effect, which goes away if I reduce the dosage below the threshold. So at least my body responds to it.
But you're not getting a proper study unless you get thousands of people to take it for years... Which is basically impossible as there are too many confounding factors to get meaningful results.
And organizing such a study is gonna be too expensive too, with no sponsors willing to take up the tab
I've already written and edited this comment a lot, but as a final remark I'd like to point out that the benefits I'm referencing is having an easier time concentrating. This can also be a demerit, as you can easily be caught thinking about something for pretty long before you realize.