Effects of a single creatine dose on cognitive performance during sleep deprivation (double-blind crossover RCT)
Gordji-Nejad A, Matusch A, Kleedörfer S, et al.
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Summary
In 15 healthy adults undergoing 21 hours of total sleep deprivation, a single dose of creatine (0.35 g/kg body weight, ~26 g for a 75 kg person) was compared to placebo in a double-blind, randomized, crossover design. Processing speed on language, logic, and numeric tasks, and word-memory performance, improved significantly versus placebo. Note this tested a single large acute dose, very different from the typical 3–5 g/day maintenance dose.
Key findings
- 1
Under 21 hours of sleep deprivation, processing speed improved vs placebo by roughly 29% (language), 24% (numeric), and 16% (logic)
- 2
Word-memory task accuracy and processing speed also improved significantly versus placebo
- 3
The dose tested was a single acute 0.35 g/kg dose (~26 g for a 75 kg person) — far larger than the typical 3–5 g/day maintenance dose
- 4
Small sample (n=15) and single-dose design; does not directly demonstrate effects of routine low-dose or chronic supplementation
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