I have tested this several time - creatine taken even first thing in the morning causes my sleep to be more disturbed and restless, I wake up feeling unrefreshed. I don’t ever get any insomnia though. I use 3.15g as per Jordan’s 0.045 g/kg recommendation but I’ve also tried 2g for a couple months. Whenever I stop using creatine, my sleep improves about 2-3 weeks later and I have no idea why. Could it be related to increased ATP and DHT? I’ve tried different brands but it’s all the same, I’m just using your classic OG creatine monohydrate.
There’s a boatload of anecdotal evidence online on Reddit and forums where users report worsened sleep, insomnia and anxiety from creatine but of course here at BBM we don’t pay attention to such silliness. That being said, the vast majority of people can take creatine just fine without any issues. I tried looking for some studies but I only found one, what are your thoughts on this:
The latest issue of Hard Training (P.O. 19446, Cincinnati, OH 45219 (513) 221-2600) carries the results of a study by D. Burke et al published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology (23 (5):471, 1998) which found a strong correlation between soreness and oral ingestion of creatine monohydrate. After three weeks of either creatine or placebo supplementation, 40 male varsity athletes were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire detailing all side effects during the double blind study. Two side effects showed the greatest difference between the creatine and placebo group: sleep irregularity (creatine 47%, placebo 7%) and muscle soreness (creatine 53%, placebo 14%).
I know that this is only a single study with n=40, but that’s almost half the group taking creatine experiencing sleep problems. Is there any other literature that could shine some light on this or do you know of any possible mechanisms in theory by which creatine causes sleep issues? Thank you for your time.