Creatine supplementation effects on cognition, sleep, and menopause symptoms in response to six weeks of high-intensity resistance training in perimenopausal females
Study Details
This randomised trial examined whether creatine supplementation alongside 6 weeks of high-intensity resistance training influenced cognition, sleep and menopause-related symptoms in 51 perimenopausal women 🔍
Participants were allocated to creatine (n=18), placebo (n=20), or non-training control (n=13) 🏋️
Creatine and placebo groups completed a 5-day loading phase at 20 g/day, followed by ~4.5 g/day maintenance, alongside twice-weekly progressive resistance training 🥄
Key Findings
🧠 Stroop reaction time improved over the 6 weeks, but there were no between-group differences in cognitive performance
🩸 During the Stroop test, prefrontal oxygenation increased with creatine by +0.32%, while it decreased with placebo by −1.62%
😴 Sleep consistency improved more with creatine, with a baseline-adjusted advantage of +7.4 percentage points versus placebo at week 6
🌡️ Creatine was also associated with fewer self-reported temperature-sensitivity days
↔️ The abstract does not report clear benefits for memory performance or other menopause-related symptoms such as fatigue, soreness, brain fog or bloating
⌚ Sleep and symptoms were monitored daily using WHOOP wearables, while cognition was assessed with Stroop and Rey 15-item memory testing
⚠️ The intervention was short, the sample relatively small, and creatine was combined with resistance training, meaning the findings do not isolate creatine in a completely sedentary context
Conclusion
For perimenopausal women undertaking resistance training, creatine may offer benefits beyond muscle by improving sleep consistency and cerebral oxygenation, but larger and longer trials are needed before treating these effects as established ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42926218/
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