Can You Take Creatine With out Working Out?: Professionals and Cons

Gymgoers and athletes have lengthy revered creatine for its potential to boost efficiency.

Not too long ago, it has additionally gained consideration for a spread of well being advantages, comparable to enhanced cognitive operate, higher bone well being, and diminished threat of neurodegenerative illness.

This newfound hype has led many to surprise: can you are taking creatine with out understanding?

In different phrases, are there advantages to taking creatine for individuals who don’t train commonly?

On-line well being and health “gurus” usually say unequivocally sure.

Nonetheless, analysis suggests we should always most likely be cautious about these claims. 

To get the details, we consulted Dr. Grant Tinsley, an professional within the area and one of many researchers who helps formulate dietary supplements for Legion.

On this article, you’ll get his evidence-based takes on creatine’s advantages for non-exercisers. You’ll additionally uncover whether or not it’s best to take creatine on days you don’t practice, what occurs while you cease taking creatine however nonetheless work out, and extra.

What Occurs if You Take Creatine With out Working Out?

A lot of the creatine you devour makes its method to your muscular tissues, the place it boosts your potential to regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), essentially the most fundamental unit of mobile power.

Dr. Tinsley explains, “This course of happens whether or not you train or not. The distinction is that while you train, you need to use the elevated ATP manufacturing to coach more durable for longer. In distinction, while you don’t train, you don’t make use of the potential efficiency advantages.”

Does Taking Creatine With out Train Construct Muscle?

Taking creatine can assist you construct muscle in a number of important methods:

1. It will increase energy, energy, and endurance, permitting you to carry out extra reps with heavier weights, which is essential for gaining muscle. 
2. It attracts water into your muscle cells, creating situations conducive to muscle development in your physique.
3. It prompts cells that restore and develop muscle fibers.
4. It might cut back muscle protein breakdown, leading to extra muscle development over time.
5. It could actually elevate ranges of anabolic hormones like insulin-like development issue 1 (IGF-1) and affect gene expression to advertise muscle development.

Nonetheless, as Dr. Tinsley factors out, “These advantages are solely discernible when mixed with common resistance coaching. With out the stimulus of lifting weights, the muscle-building results of creatine are doubtless too minor to note.”

In different phrases, you’ll solely acquire important muscle whereas taking creatine in the event you additionally do common energy coaching.

Potential Advantages of Taking Creatine With out Working Out

Improved Bone Well being

1. By rising muscle energy and train efficiency, creatine lets you contract your muscular tissues extra forcefully. These contractions pressure the areas the place tendons hook up with bones, rising compressive forces alongside the bones. Stronger muscular tissues additionally allow you to elevate heavier weights, which locations extra stress on bones. In each circumstances, the stress spurs bones to turn out to be stronger and denser.
2. Creatine would possibly increase ATP manufacturing in bones, rising the exercise of osteoblasts (bone-forming cells) and decreasing bone breakdown.

Regardless of these theoretical advantages and a few promising animal proof, human research are much less conclusive.

A meta-analysis of 5 research discovered that taking creatine didn’t result in dependable or important enhancements in bone well being. 

One other 2023 examine discovered that taking creatine for two years had no impression on bone mineral density, however that it could positively have an effect on some structural traits of bone, which can shield towards fractures. 

Thus, there’s presently not sufficient proof to advocate taking creatine solely for bone well being. Nonetheless, given the theoretical potential and a few promising examine outcomes, it warrants additional investigation.

Enhanced Cognitive Perform

Regardless of making up solely about 2% of your physique’s mass, your mind makes use of about 20% of your power. It additionally requires a relentless provide of ATP to operate correctly. 

On condition that creatine helps keep ATP ranges within the mind, it’s logical to suppose that taking creatine dietary supplements would possibly enhance cognitive operate.

Nonetheless, research investigating creatine’s results on psychological efficiency have uncovered blended outcomes. 

Some research present creatine can cut back psychological fatigue, enhance reminiscence, and improve cognitive efficiency, particularly in annoying circumstances (like sleep deprivation), whereas others present it has no impact.

We see these blended outcomes throughout totally different teams of individuals, too, together with younger and older adults, wholesome and in poor health individuals, omnivores and vegetarians, and so forth.

So, whereas creatine has the potential to boost cognitive operate, the proof isn’t robust sufficient to attract definitive conclusions but.

Decreased Threat of Neurodegenerative Illness

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS): Some research recommend supplementing with creatine could enhance bodily efficiency and cut back muscle fatigue within the early levels of ALS however not in superior ALS.
• Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD): Preliminary analysis exhibits that creatine monohydrate improves energy, endurance, and bone density in DMD sufferers. Nonetheless, we’d like extra analysis to substantiate these findings. 
• Huntington’s Illness (HD): Whereas some analysis suggests creatine can gradual the development of HD, different research disagree. And though some analysis suggests creatine reduces DNA injury, there’s no proof this improves cognition or individuals’s potential to maneuver. Subsequently, present analysis doesn’t assist the usage of creatine in treating HD.
• A number of Sclerosis (MS): Individuals with MS who take creatine don’t retailer extra creatine of their muscular tissues or expertise a rise of their train capability or energy. As such, creatine isn’t an efficient remedy for MS.
• Parkinson’s Illness: Research present that creatine may help enhance the results of dopamine remedy (a typical remedy for Parkinson’s illness) and improve muscle energy and performance, however it doesn’t gradual the development of the illness.

Total, creatine supplementation appears to have little to no impact on slowing down or managing neurodegenerative illnesses.

Improved Hydration

Many individuals consider that creatine causes dehydration. The logic is that since creatine attracts water into muscle cells, it should go away much less water for the remainder of the physique. 

Nonetheless, it is a misunderstanding. Whereas creatine does trigger water retention in muscular tissues, analysis exhibits it doesn’t disrupt the physique’s total water stability.

In different phrases, taking creatine will increase the overall quantity of water in your physique, however the stability of water inside and outdoors your cells stays the identical, which is probably going why research present creatine doesn’t trigger dehydration.

In reality, by encouraging your muscular tissues to carry on to water, creatine could profit whole physique hydration, which could be particularly advantageous throughout lengthy bouts of intense train.

Improved Psychological Well being

• Melancholy: Present knowledge on creatine’s impact on melancholy is conflicting. Whereas some research present that folks expertise an enchancment in temper after they take creatine, particularly after they take it alongside conventional antidepressant remedy, others present no impact. 
• Anxiousness and Publish-Traumatic Stress Dysfunction (PTSD): Few research have examined how creatine impacts PTSD. Two small-scale research discovered that creatine would possibly assist enhance signs, significantly amongst individuals who don’t reply effectively to straightforward therapies.

Whereas we don’t but have sufficient analysis to find out how creatine impacts psychological well being, some preliminary findings are promising. This makes creatine a beneficial subject for future research.

Decreased Want for Sleep

Animal analysis suggests taking creatine reduces whole and deep sleep length. 

Whereas decreasing sleep length and high quality normally harms psychological and bodily efficiency, different research present that taking creatine makes you mentally and bodily sharper, even when sleep-deprived.

Whereas speculative, this might imply creatine reduces your want for sleep and offsets any destructive results of inadequate sleep amount and high quality. 

Ought to You Take Creatine on Relaxation Days?

“To maximise the advantages of creatine, take it on daily basis, together with relaxation days,” says Dr. Tinsley.

“Constant every day consumption ensures your muscular tissues stay saturated with creatine, permitting you to coach and recuperate optimally.”

What Occurs if You Cease Taking Creatine However Nonetheless Exercise?

A examine by Queen’s Medical Centre discovered that when your muscular tissues turn out to be saturated with creatine, it takes about 4 weeks with out supplementation on your creatine ranges to return to baseline. 

Furthermore, the decline in saved creatine solely actually begins after two weeks of stopping creatine consumption. In different phrases, your muscular tissues keep saturated with creatine for round 14 days, even after you cease supplementing.

In sensible phrases, in the event you cease taking creatine, you could have a two-week window the place your efficiency ought to stay comparatively unaffected.

After this era, you’ll most likely discover a gradual decline in your energy, endurance, and restoration, however it received’t be a right away drop-off. And in the event you resume taking creatine throughout this time, it’s best to see the advantages return rapidly.