Creatine May Help Against Depression

First of all I need to comment on how there is still misinformation circulating around that creatine is like a steroid, is bad for you, and that athletes who take this are somehow breaking the rules. None of this is true. Creatine is an amino acid derivative that the body contains naturally and is present in many of the foods that we eat. The body also has a saturation level with creatine, meaning that after so much of it is in the body, any additional intake will be excreted out. The most prominent effect of creatine is that it increases short-term muscular endurance. The phosphocreatine system is one method the body uses to create energy during bouts of exercise ranging from 5-30 seconds. Creatine supplementation increases strength and endurance mainly within that window, making it ideal for strength and power athletes. Research is emerging that creatine has more benefits in addition to muscular endurance. Leem et al. investigated the effects of creatine on reducing stress-induced depression.

It has long been known that exercise combats depression, but the current study aimed to determine whether creatine and exercise by themselves or combined would have a greater effect on reducing depression. They performed the study on mice, and measured decreased hippocampal neurogenesis as an indication of depression. The researchers determined that creatine supplementation in addition to exercise increased hippocampal neurogenesis the most, thus decreasing depression, more than just exercise or just creatine supplementation by themselves.

Studies such as this add to the pool of research on creatine promoting it as an all around beneficial supplement to take. If you have never taken creatine before, it is important to know that it may increase your bodyweight by an average of 2kg. Although creatine supplementation has been largely limited to athletes in the past, research such as this suggests it may have additional benefits for the general population as well.

You can find the article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6058068/