When life tosses you stress and your magic 8-ball is spitting in your face, one of the “secret” tactics I use — and one I hammer home with my M3 1-on-1 clients and consults — is high-dose creatine.

Yeah, I said it.

Not your bro-standard 5 g scoop tossed in post-workout like it’s pixie dust for your traps. I’m talking 10–20 grams of phosphagen fury straight into the metabolic chaos when sleep is wrecked and caffeine has stopped working.

I tested this "trick" during a brutal travel stretch — red-eye flight, 6 hours of client calls, and a stack of deadlines taller than my espresso tower. I slammed 10 g of creatine, twice, 4 hours apart.
​
Within an hour, the fog lifted.
​
My neurons stopped screaming. I could actually form sentences that didn’t sound like a stroke in progress.

Turns out, the science backs that meathead madness.

The Research: Brain Gains Under Sleep Deprivation

A single 0.35 g/kg dose (~24 g for a 70 kg human) during total sleep deprivation improved cognitive performance and processing speed, partially reversing fatigue-related cognitive deterioration.
​
The effects lasted up to nine hours, peaking around four hours post-dose — a direct slap in the face to the myth that only long-term creatine loading helps the brain [1].

Short-term loading (20 g/day for 5–7 days) also protected against mental implosion: less decline in executive function, reaction time, balance, and mood after 24–36 hours awake compared to placebo [2–4].

Even athletes pulling all-nighters held it together: a single 50–100 mg/kg dose preserved skill execution under sleep-deprived testing [5].

Mechanisms: The Brain’s Phosphagen Shield

Table 1: Summary of high-dose creatine effects during sleep deprivation.

When you’re sleep-deprived, your brain’s phosphocreatine reserves nosedive like your squat depth under fatigue.
​
High-dose creatine appears to resupply that energetic buffer, maintaining ATP turnover and preventing neuronal energy collapse [1, 6, 7].

Translation: creatine acts as an emergency generator when your cortex is running on fumes.

The most pronounced effects show up in complex or sustained attention tasks — the kind where your frontal lobe normally waves a white flag after 24 hours awake [2–4].

Not every cognitive domain improves (the meta-data says it’s hit or miss depending on task and person) [7, 8] — but when it works, it works like espresso for your mitochondria.

Real-World Use (and My Own Nerd Hack)

If I know I’m headed into sleep-deprivation hell — travel, late presentations, data analysis binges — I’ll preload 10 g twice daily for 2–3 days, or take 20 g in split doses during the worst of it.

No jitters. No crash. Just metabolic scaffolding so your neurons don’t mutiny.

And yes, your kidneys are fine — every study above used doses within standard safety ranges for healthy adults.

The Takeaway

If your brain feels like mashed cauliflower after an all-nighter, creatine isn’t just for your biceps — it’s rocket fuel for your neurons.

Skip the extra espresso shot. Feed your brain phosphagen instead.

>> Grab Driven Creatine below​
​www.miketnelsoncreatine.com​
Use code DRMIKE to save a few bucks on all Driven products​
​
​Full disclosure: affiliate link. I use it myself and recommend it to my clients — because it flat-out works when sleep goes sideways.

Much love, caffeine crashes, and phosphagen-fueled focus,
Dr. Mike

PS – If you’re gonna stay up all night, at least give your mitochondria a fighting chance. Pop your creatine, chase it with coffee, and thank me in the morning when your frontal lobe still works. Then post stress event, go the F to sleep as this is a temporary bandaid, not a lifestyle!

​
​References

1. Gordji-Nejad, A., Matusch, A., Kleedörfer, S., Patel, H., Drzezga, A., Elmenhorst, D., Binkofski, F., & Bauer, A. (2024). Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation. Scientific Reports, 14. ​​
2. McMorris, T., Harris, R., Howard, A., Langridge, G., Hall, B., Corbett, J., Dicks, M., & Hodgson, C. (2007). Creatine supplementation, sleep deprivation, cortisol, melatonin and behavior. Physiology & Behavior, 90. ​​
3. McMorris, T., Harris, R., Swain, J., Corbett, J., Collard, K., Dyson, R., Dye, L., Hodgson, C., & Draper, N. (2006). Effect of creatine supplementation and sleep deprivation, with mild exercise, on cognitive and psychomotor performance, mood state, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol. Psychopharmacology, 185. ​​
4. Candow, D., Forbes, S., Ostojić, S., Prokopidis, K., Stock, M., Harmon, K., & Faulkner, P. (2023). “Heads Up” for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports Medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 53. ​​​
5. Cook, C., Crewther, B., Kilduff, L., Drawer, S., & Gaviglio, C. (2011). Skill execution and sleep deprivation: effects of acute caffeine or creatine supplementation – a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 8. ​​
6. Dworak, M., Kim, T., McCarley, R., & Basheer, R. (2017). Creatine supplementation reduces sleep need and homeostatic sleep pressure in rats. Journal of Sleep Research, 26. ​​
7. McMorris, T., Hale, B., Pine, B., & Williams, T. (2024). Creatine supplementation research fails to support the theoretical basis for an effect on cognition: Evidence from a systematic review. Behavioural Brain Research, 466. ​​
8. Sandkühler, J., Kersting, X., Faust, A., Königs, E., Altman, G., Ettinger, U., Lux, S., Philipsen, A., Müller, H., & Brauner, J. (2023). The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance — a randomized controlled study. BMC Medicine, 21. ​​

Ultra nerdy note : Using 10-20g split doses during sleep deprivation or preloading 10g twice daily for 2-3 days

Context:

• The single-dose study (Gordji-Nejad 2024) used 24.5g in ONE dose
• The loading studies used 20g/day split into 4 doses over 7 days
• The athlete study used much smaller single doses (3.5-7g)

Assessment: The author's personal protocol (10g twice = 20g/day) aligns with the McMorris loading studies, but differs from the timing in the Gordji-Nejad single-dose study.

>> Grab Driven Creatine below​
​www.miketnelsoncreatine.com​
Use code DRMIKE to save a few bucks on all Driven products

____________________

Mike T Nelson CISSN, CSCS, MSME, PhD
Associate Professor, Carrick Institute
Owner, Extreme Human Performance, LLC
Editorial Board Member, STRONG Fitness Mag

Mike T Nelson is a PhD and not a physician or registered dietitian. The contents of this email should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem - nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician. Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health.

..