7 good reasons to take creatine every day
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Creatine is a compound that is mainly found in your muscles. It is mainly used to create energy during high intensity activities and short -term exercises such as weight lifting.
We think that the more creatine you store, like phosphocreatineThe more your muscle cells can generate energy during high intensity training. Other creatine uses include increasing muscle mass and strength, reducing muscle cramps or fatigue and improving exercise performance.
Studies suggest that creatine can protect bones, especially in the elderly. In a study, the menopausal women who took creatine for 12 months and did an exercise in resistance experienced an improvement in their bone force.
Creatine can also reduce the risk of hip fracture, decrease the risk of falls and slow down the loss of bone mineral. Not all studies have found these advantages of creatine in bone health.
Creatine is one of the most popular supplements with athletes and weightlifting because of its potential to improve exercise performance.
Studies systematically reveal that creatine supplements improve the performance of the unique and multiple episodes of a short -term training session. They also improve the performance of high intensity exercise activities and help your body better adapt to training over time.
During the exercise of high intensity, the demand for creatine in the form of phosphocreatine is greater than the supply, which can limit physical performance. The increase in creatine stores will also increase phosphocreal, which can, in turn, improve the performance of the exercise.
Creatine supplements can also increase muscle strength in the upper body and lower by acting on growth factors. Studies suggest combining creatine supplements with exercise can amplify muscle strength and increase muscle size.
Creatine can help accelerate the recovery of muscle damage after exercise. Taking creatine after exercise can improve muscle regeneration, which could avoid serious muscle damage and improve recovery.
Creatine can also help improve your memory, duration of attention and information processing speed. Some studies suggest that creatine improves memory by increasing energy levels and protecting the nerves of your brain.
High doses of creatine can also reverse the drop in memory related to fatigue and improve recognition memory.
Creatine has also proven to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can benefit your heart.
Studies show that creatine helps reduce homocysteine levels (an amino acid in your blood) and improve the function of blood vessels. It has been found that an increase in homocysteine increases the risk of heart disease.
Supplement with short -term creatine can positively affect the heart. However, the effects of creatine on heart health have not yet been widely confirmed.
It has been found that creatine reduces lipids in your blood, including “bad” cholesterol, “bad” cholesterol, high density lipoproteins (HDL), “good” cholesterol and total cholesterol, which have all been linked to heart disease.
A study revealed that even if four weeks of creatine have considerably improved triglyceride levels, he did not affect other lipids, such as HDL-C and total cholesterol.
Creatine is generally safe to use daily for all age groups. Studies show that taking up to 30 grams of creatine supplements per day for five years is safe and well tolerated. However, more health benefits are observed when low doses of food creatine supplements (3 grams) are taken daily.
Although creatine is well tolerated, you can feel side effects like:
- Muscle cramps
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Stomach pain
- Dehydration
- Water retention
- Heat intolerance
- Fever
- Weight gain (temporary, often water weight)
Do not use creatine if you have the following conditions without first talking to a health care provider:
To increase or load your muscle creatine stores quickly and effectively, experts recommend taking 5 grams of creatine monohydrate four times a day for about five to seven days. Other researchers have noted that you can also take creatine less quickly, around 2 to 3 grams per day for 30 days, to effectively increase creatine stores.
After the “loading phase”, depending on your diet, your muscle mass and your physical activity, you may need to consume about 2 to 3 grams per day to maintain your creatine stores. People with larger body size or those who engaged in intense physical activity may need to consume up to 5 to 10 grams of creatine daily to see the results.
It is important to take creatine every day, even on the days you do not train, to make sure that the muscle is systematically saturated with creatine. Muscle saturation consistent with creatine can help improve performance during your next training session and help your muscles recover from the muscle damage induced by the exercise.
Creatine can be found in foods such as milk, fish, seafood and white and red meat. You can get up to 2 grams of creatine from meat. Vegans, vegetarians or people who need additional creatine grams can choose to get creatine from supplements. The most widely used and desired form of creatine supplement is creatine monohydrate.
Here are some tips for integrating creatine into your daily routine:
- Take it in a coherent way, even on rest days, to make the most of the advantages of creatine.
- You can mix creatine with your current pre-training drinks or your protein shakes. Avoid taking creatine with drinks containing caffeine, as caffeine can interfere with the advantages of creatine.
- There is no specific time to take creatine, but it is better to bring it closer to your training, before or after.
- You can associate creatine with a meal, especially carbohydrates and proteins, to improve creatine absorption.
- Drink water to stay well hydrated, because creatine can attract water to your muscles.
Creatine can benefit athletes or people who seek to develop their muscles. In addition to improving training sessions and muscle growth, creatine can improve bone health and memory and help reduce cholesterol levels.
Although creatine is generally safe to use daily, it can help improve your creatine stores. You may experience side effects such as muscle cramps, nausea, dizziness, bloating, weight gain and heat intolerance.
If you have been diagnosed or have family history of kidney disease, bipolar disorder or parkinson, talk to your health care provider before using creatine.