Creatine Is Not Just for Men

Creatine: Strength, cognition, and why women have been missing this conversation.

There are a few topics I keep coming back to because they sit at the intersection of health, agency, and long-term thinking. Creatine is one of them.

For years, it lived in a narrow cultural box. Something associated with young men, gym culture, or performance extremes. That framing did women a disservice. Not because women need another supplement trend, but because creatine quietly addresses several of the exact issues women face as they age: muscle loss, bone health, energy availability, cognitive resilience, and recovery.

This isn’t about optimization or aesthetics. It’s about capacity. Physical and mental.

The problem women are not told about early enough

Women begin losing muscle mass earlier than most people realize. The decline accelerates through perimenopause and menopause, driven by hormonal shifts, reduced insulin sensitivity, and changes in protein synthesis. Sarcopenia is often framed as an “elderly” issue, but the groundwork is laid decades earlier.

Muscle is not just about movement. It is a metabolic organ. It improves insulin sensitivity, protects bone density, stabilizes joints, and acts as a reservoir for amino acids during stress or illness. When women lose muscle, they lose more than strength. They lose resilience.

Creatine directly supports this system.

What creatine actually does

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound stored primarily in skeletal muscle, where it helps regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary energy currency of cells. In practical terms, creatine improves the body’s ability to perform repeated, high-effort work and recover from it.

But that explanation understates its relevance for women.

Creatine improves muscle strength and lean mass when combined with resistance training. This has been shown repeatedly across age groups, including postmenopausal women. It also supports training quality, which matters because the benefits of lifting weights are dose-dependent. Better sessions compound into better outcomes.

Importantly, women tend to have lower baseline creatine stores than men, in part due to differences in muscle mass and dietary intake. That means supplementation may offer proportionally greater benefit.

Strength, aging, and independence

One of the most consistent findings in aging research is that muscle strength predicts independence better than almost any other physical metric. Grip strength alone correlates with lower mortality risk, reduced hospitalization, and better functional outcomes later in life.

Creatine does not replace strength training. It supports it.

In studies involving older adults, creatine supplementation combined with resistance training led to greater gains in strength and functional performance compared to training alone. This includes improvements in sit-to-stand performance, stair climbing, and balance-related tasks.

These are not vanity metrics. They are quality-of-life metrics.

Bone health and indirect protection

While creatine does not directly build bone in the way calcium or vitamin D support mineral density, it contributes indirectly by enabling higher training loads and better muscular support around joints. Mechanical loading is one of the strongest stimuli for maintaining bone density, particularly in women as estrogen declines.

Stronger muscles pull on bone. Bone adapts.

That feedback loop matters more than most women are told.

The overlooked conversation: brain health

This is where creatine becomes especially interesting.

The brain is an energy-intensive organ. Neurons require ATP to maintain membrane potentials, fire signals, and manage neurotransmitter release. During periods of stress, sleep deprivation, or cognitive load, the brain’s energy demand increases.

Creatine crosses the blood-brain barrier.

Research has shown that creatine supplementation increases brain creatine levels and may improve cognitive performance in conditions of stress, fatigue, or sleep deprivation. Several studies have demonstrated benefits in working memory, reaction time, and mental endurance, particularly when the brain is under load.

There is also emerging evidence that creatine may offer neuroprotective effects by improving cellular energy availability and reducing oxidative stress. This has implications for aging, mood regulation, and resilience during hormonal transitions.

For women navigating perimenopause, when brain fog, memory lapses, and mental fatigue become common complaints, this matters.

Creatine is not a treatment. But it is a support.

Mood, stress, and mental resilience

Some clinical research suggests creatine may augment antidepressant response, particularly in women. While this area is still developing, the proposed mechanism relates to energy metabolism and neurotransmitter regulation rather than mood modulation alone.

That distinction is important.

Creatine does not blunt emotion. It supports capacity.

Women are often told to rest more when they feel depleted. Rest matters. But so does rebuilding the systems that allow recovery in the first place.

Safety and misconceptions

Creatine is one of the most studied supplements available. In healthy individuals, long-term supplementation has consistently been shown to be safe at recommended doses.

Concerns about kidney damage have been largely debunked in populations without pre-existing renal disease. Creatine may increase serum creatinine levels, which can be misinterpreted as kidney stress, but this reflects higher creatine turnover, not impaired function.

Weight gain concerns are usually related to increased intracellular water retention in muscle tissue, not fat gain. For women lifting weights, this is often a positive adaptation.

Dosage and practical use

Most evidence supports a daily dose of 3–5 grams of creatine monohydrate. Loading phases are unnecessary for most people. Consistency matters more than timing, though many prefer to take it post-workout or with a meal.

Creatine works best alongside resistance training. It is not a passive solution.

Why this conversation matters

Women are often given wellness advice that emphasizes shrinking, calming, or softening. Creatine belongs to a different category. It supports strength, capacity, and durability.

Those traits matter in parenting, in work, and in aging.

Strong women recover faster. Think clearer under stress. Maintain independence longer. Show their daughters what agency looks like in a body.

This is not about supplementation culture. It is about informed choice.

What I want my daughters to understand

I want my daughters to grow up understanding that strength is protective. That caring for their bodies is not about control or perfection, but about capability. That investing in health early compounds just like investing in anything else.

Creatine is one small example of how science often lags behind cultural narratives, especially when women are concerned.

We deserve better information.

Want more? Below are books, podcasts and journals I recommend.

These resources are not about trends or shortcuts. They all point to the same conclusion: preserving strength, muscle, and energy availability is central to how we age physically and cognitively.

Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia

A best-selling book on longevity that reframes health as a long-term risk management problem. Attia makes a clear, evidence-based case that muscle mass, strength, and metabolic health are foundational to aging well, not optional. While creatine is not the focus of the book, the logic behind its use fits naturally into the framework he outlines: preserve muscle, protect cognition, and extend health span rather than simply lifespan.

The Drive with Peter Attia
Episode: Creatine: Benefits for Muscle, Brain, and Aging (with Dr. Darren Candow)

A research-driven conversation focused on creatine’s role in muscle preservation, cognitive resilience, and aging populations, including women. The discussion avoids hype and stays grounded in clinical evidence, making it a strong companion to the research referenced in this post.

Books

• The Barbell Prescription by Jonathon Sullivan and Andy Baker
  A clinical case for strength training as preventative medicine, especially as we age. Strong emphasis on muscle as a determinant of independence and quality of life.

• Strong Women Stay Young by Dr. Miriam Nelson
  An accessible introduction to why resistance training protects bone density, mobility, and long-term independence in women.

• Brain Energy by Dr. Christopher Palmer
  Explores how cellular energy metabolism affects mental health and cognitive resilience. Helpful context for understanding why brain energy availability matters as we age.

Podcasts

• Huberman Lab
  Select episodes on muscle, aging, and female hormone health provide useful physiological context.

• FoundMyFitness with Dr. Rhonda Patrick
  In-depth discussions on muscle, metabolism, micronutrients, and long-term health through a research-first lens.

Sources

• Kreider RB et al. (2022). International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Creatine Supplementation. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

• Candow DG et al. (2023). Creatine Supplementation and Aging Musculoskeletal Health. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

• Smith-Ryan AE, Antonio J. (2022). Creatine Supplementation in Women: A Critical Review. Nutrients.

• Avgerinos KI et al. (2022). Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Cognitive Function. Nutrients.

• De Guingand DL et al. (2023). Creatine, Brain Energy Metabolism, and Neuroprotection. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.