Should You Be Taking Creatine? Probably, yes.

I learned some interesting and useful things about the benefits of creatine, especially for midlife women, by listening to Dr. Stephanie Estima’s Better with Dr. Stephanie podcast, when she interviewed sleep researcher and neuroscientist Dan Pardi PhD.

Dr. Pardi has spent decades studying what creatine does in the body and the mind. He discussed why the supplement should not be viewed as only beneficial for body builders, explaining how it helps with energy production, brain health, sleep deprivation, stress mitigation, and muscle health—all critical issues for midlife women.

Creatine is about energy — not just muscle

One of Pardi’s central points was that creatine is widely misunderstood as only a “gym supplement.” He explained that creatine’s real role is helping the body rapidly regenerate ATP, the body’s cellular energy currency. Tissues with high energy demand — especially the brain and muscles — benefit most.

Women may especially benefit during perimenopause and menopause

Pardi discussed how estrogen influences creatine uptake and cellular energy metabolism. As estrogen declines in midlife, women may become more susceptible to fatigue, brain fog, slower recovery, and reduced resilience to stress and poor sleep. Creatine may help buffer some of those effects by supporting energy availability.

Sleep deprivation increases the brain’s need for creatine

Drawing from his sleep research background, Pardi described how the brain appears to absorb more creatine during periods of stress or insufficient sleep. He explained that creatine helps stabilize energy production so people may feel more mentally steady and less depleted after poor sleep.

He noted that research has shown improvements in:

• Working memory

• Cognitive performance

• Mental processing speed

• Reaction time

• Executive functioning

The benefits seem particularly noticeable under stress, sleep loss, or cognitive overload.

Muscle saturation matters

Pardi used a “concrete slope” analogy to explain how creatine is stored. Muscles absorb much of it first, but once muscle stores are saturated, more creatine may become available to other tissues, including the brain. He suggested this is partly why some researchers are now interested in slightly higher daily doses than the traditional 3–5 grams.

Where does your body get creatine

Dr. Pardi noted that some creatine is made in our bodies (kidneys, liver, and to lesser extent pancreas) from amino acids but we make less of it as we age. Creatine is stored in our muscles and once those are full up, creatine goes to our brain. The body then converts the creatine into ATP (cellular energy).

We can also get some creatine from food, primarily red meat, fish, and other animal proteins. The most creatine-rich foods include beef, salmon, herring, and tuna. Most people, however, don’t eat enough creatine-rich foods to get fully saturated muscle stores. Thus, not enough is getting to the brain, where it can help support brain function.

• Vegetarians and vegans tend to have lower baseline creatine levels because plant foods contain very little naturally occurring creatine.

• Older adults often eat less protein overall, and appetite and muscle mass can decline with age, thus necessitating supplementation.

• Women in perimenopause/menopause may especially struggle to maintain lean mass and recovery.

Because of that, he suggested creatine supplementation can sometimes help compensate for lower dietary intake and support muscle and brain energy demands during aging.

Common myths were addressed

The episode spent time debunking concerns about:

• Kidney damage

• Hair loss

• Excessive bloating

• “Bulking up”

Pardi stated that, in healthy individuals, creatine monohydrate has one of the strongest safety records among supplements and is heavily researched.

Creatine supplementation can be beneficial for most midlife women

Dr. Pardi’s overall message was that creatine may be particularly valuable for:

• Midlife women

• People under chronic stress

• Sleep-deprived individuals

• Those experiencing brain fog or fatigue

• Adults trying to preserve muscle and cognitive function with aging

And doesn’t that pretty much include all of us women in midlife? 😊

Content provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not to be considered medical advice.