by Creatine, a widely-used dietary supplement in the athletic community for enhancing physical performance, has now been found to temporarily improve cognitive functions impaired by sleep deprivation. A team of researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany conducted the study, which was published in Scientific Reports.
The researchers kept 15 participants awake all night and asked them to complete cognitive tasks during this period. Sleep deprivation triggers alterations in brain metabolism that facilitate the absorption of creatine. Prior to the experiment, the participants had been given a high single dose of creatine, a naturally occurring substance found in food and produced by the body.
Three hours after taking the creatine supplement, the researchers observed a positive impact on the participants’ brain metabolism and cognitive performance. The peak effect was reached after four hours, and the benefits lasted up to nine hours. Notably, improvements in processing speed and short-term memory were noted.
Dr. Ali Gordjinejad, the study’s coordinator from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-2) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, explained that a high single dose of creatine enhances cognitive abilities and induces changes in the brain’s energy reserves during sleep deprivation. This discovery could potentially lead to new strategies for mitigating the negative effects of sleep loss on cognitive performance.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
