Your Brain Uses 20% of Its Creatine Just to Think | Podcast #479

So the mechanism, right? You're talking about, hey, these guys want this steroid-like benefit.

without taking the steroid because that was illegal then.

But what's it doing? So we know creatine, right? Phosphocreatine.

It's got these phosphate groups and we know that the cells are taking ADP and it's adding an extra phosphate to make ATP, which is the cellular currency of energy in the body.

Is that the major mechanism that's happening? What else is happening?

Yeah, that is the major mechanism that is happening.

How

is that driving healing? I understand like performance because you have more raw material.

Therefore, you have this extra energy source.

But how is that driving healing and recovery? What's it doing to growth hormone?

Well.

The thing about that it does provide strength and endurance when, as you say, there's performance that's happening.

Right.

A really key part of creatine is that when these cells are active, they become fatigued.

It can be T cells becoming fatigued, fighting to keep us healthy.

It can be brain cells becoming fatigued, fighting neurological disorders, or just simply thinking.

The body uses 20% of the body's creatine just to think.

Oh, yeah, that's a

big one.

That's a quote.

I want to hit that again.

Repeat that line one more time, please, if you don't mind.

And so creatine not only provides the energy for those cells to function when we're asking them to, when we're putting them through activities, but it provides the energy, the cellular energy for those cells to then recover when we are at rest or when we are rebuilding, whether it's muscle cells, brain cells, whatever the case is, that cellular energy is important, not just for performance, but it is absolutely key for recovery so what it's doing when you say how is it impacting things beyond you know strength and endurance and things it really is a matter of cells recovering and being able to get back ready to doing what it is that the body expects those individual those specific cells to do as a part of overall body function and health function

what's creatine doing to the hormones So I understand 20% of creatine goes to the neurological, but what's it doing to the hormones to help with the recovery aspect?

Well, it is symbiotic because if, for instance, the cells don't have enough cellular energy, they can't use effectively or optimally any nutrients or any hormones as a part of the overall recovery.