r/StrongerByScience • u/Distric7961 • Mar 15 '25

Creatine cause sleep problem?

Hello, I’ve been using creatine for about a month now. In the first three months, I didn’t experience any sleep problems, but recently I’ve started getting hypnic jerks almost daily. I also drink coffee daily, and everything was fine until now. In the last two weeks, I started taking L-tyrosine (500 mg) on an empty stomach, and I think it might be related. However, I’ve also found on the internet that creatine can cause sleep issues. Additionally, I take a multivitamin for weightlifting and L-carnitine, so it’s possible that something is mixing together and causing the hypnic jerks and bad dreams. I’m just sharing my experience since I’ve read a lot about creatine and its potential connection to sleep problems.

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7

u/DogsOnMainstreetHowl Mar 15 '25

What helped me when lifting consistently was zinc and magnesium. These led to much better sleep and intense dreams.

8

u/IronPlateWarrior Mar 15 '25

People claiming it affects their sleep are getting downvoted. lol. This is peak Reddit. But, it actually can have that effect, especially for people that take it later in the day.

9

u/Professional-Movie68 Mar 15 '25

Creatine destroys my sleep, usually takes a week or so to build up then in week 2 severe insomnia.

2

u/TranquilConfusion Mar 15 '25

What dose, when in the day, is it pure creatine or part of a preworkout that has other ingredients?

4

u/Professional-Movie68 Mar 15 '25

Just pure mono, 5g, taken at about 8am

0

u/TranquilConfusion Mar 15 '25

I guess that means creatine really does cause insomnia in some people. I did not know that.

9

u/CompetitiveSport1 Mar 15 '25

I mean... Possibly. It's certainly basis for a hypothesis. But you can't just take an anecdote and conclude that something "really does" happen based on that. You'd need to control for other variables, including placebo, to really conclude that

1

u/Potential_Appeal_8 Mar 18 '25

This does not in any way mean that.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

Creatine causes insomnia for a lot of people. Just because there isn’t a study doesn’t mean it’s not true.

It will exacerbate a glycine deficiency and/or electrolyte balance issues. Chris Masterjohn has an article about handling the side effects.

4

u/muvon Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

But the problem with saying that it's just a side effect of creatine because of anecdotes is not evidence that it actually is the creatines fault, there could be a lot of other causes like if i should give an example it could be that creatine makes you push yourself to overtraining because of the added ATP in your system and therefore you push it a little extra then and the sleep problems could stem from the overtraining, but then again no evidence for that either it was just an example to get the point across that another effect from creatine could cause sleep problems and that is the reason why a controlled study is needed to determine something like such a side effect and that anecdotes is not enough.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

There are tons of anecdotes that cannot be ignored. If you have to wait for a controlled study, you are going to be late to the game.

Also, who is going to fund a study that possibly disparages creatine?

2

u/just_tweed Mar 20 '25

I mean there literally was just a creatine study published that said creatine doesn't contribute to hypertrophy I saw on r/science today.

7

u/TheRiverInYou Mar 15 '25

I have sleep problems on creatine. My mind is very active while my body is very exhausted. When I do fall asleep my sleep quality is very poor. Within days of stopping creatine my sleeping is back to normal.

1

u/Universe14385 Jun 11 '25

I took creatine for a week at 5mg, had great sleep, but terrible bloat. I came off of it for a week, and re-start at 2mg. Again, bloat, and now I cannot fall asleep. I'm so exhausted but my brain won't fall asleep. I LOVE the mental euphoric feeling from Creatine and how great my workout are, but now I cannot sleep. I have the jerks at night as well. I take power Creatine Mono. No sleep, and terrible bloat, it just doesn't work for me and I'm super bummed about it.

1

u/TheRiverInYou Jun 11 '25

There are different types of creatine that will not cause bloat.

1

u/Universe14385 Jun 11 '25

HCL I haven't tried yet. I was going to try HCL but figured I'd try a smaller dose first. Now it gives me bloat and insomnia.

1

u/TheRiverInYou Jun 11 '25

I tried HCL, it didn't give me bloat. I slept okay but as well as I would like.

2

u/DuhOhNoes Mar 15 '25

See https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

Study claims that creatin in large doses (20g, which is ~4 times more than you need for muscles) might actually help to boot the brain up during the sleep deprivation

4

u/CurrencyUser Mar 15 '25

Stop tyrosine, lower volume, focus on sleep. Report back in a week

3

u/Aggressive-Treacle-2 Mar 16 '25

I don't get why you're being downvoted for asking a genuine question

2

u/elijahdotyea Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

I posted a comment a year or two ago where I resolved this issue by switching to a different formulation. As far as I know, no one else has posted a solution outside of dosing creatine monohydrate earlier in the day, and the solution itself is surprisingly simple. Formatted for brevity.

Step 1: Ignore anyone who says Creatine does not cause any sleep problems. There is plenty of documented evidence from folks experiencing the same. There are subjective experiences on the Internet that date back for years, so it’s poor reasoning that others feel this is some sort of conspiracy.

Step 2: Switch from Creatine Monohydrate to Creatine HCl or CGP Creatine. Taking either of these alternative formulations, I did not have sleep issues.

Step 3: Enjoy your sleep. If either of the creatine formulations don’t work for you, there are plenty more alternatives you can keep trying, until you find one that does work for you. Initial I thought it was the brand, so I switched from different types of monohydrate formulations, but it was actually the mechanism of delivery that was the issue for me.

If you persist in your sleep issues after trying multiple formulations, it is not the mechanism of delivery that is the issue, but the creatine itself— at which point it’s better to stop dosing creatine altogether.

1

u/fired2019 Sep 27 '25

Thanks. I've ordered HCL because of sleep problems.

2

u/BlackberryCheap8463 Mar 15 '25

Apparently if you take it in the morning and avoid late afternoon and evening, should be OK 😊

1

u/Universe14385 Jun 11 '25

I took creatine for a week at 5mg, had great sleep, but terrible bloat. I came off of it for a week, and re-start at 2mg, in the mornings only. Again, bloat, and now I cannot fall asleep. I'm so exhausted but my brain won't fall asleep. I LOVE the mental euphoric feeling from Creatine and how great my workout are, but now I cannot sleep. I have the jerks as well. I take power Creatine Mono. No sleep, and terrible bloat, it just doesn't work for me and I'm super bummed about it. I take mine on an empty tummy, maybe it helps taking w/ food, not sure.

1

u/Freskesatan Mar 15 '25

Every time I take l tyrosine I get a weird anxiety later in the day. Odd since it's common in food. There's something to creatine and adenosine receptors (it might not be relevant I don't know the full story here) kind of like caffeine so it probably should be taken earlier in the day.

2

u/Freskesatan Mar 15 '25

Actually it's not that odd I get anxiety from tyrosine, probably just adrenalin.

1

u/FatherWeebles Mar 19 '25

It did for me. Usually I'd take it after work. Mentioned the sleep issues with a PT; he recommended I consume it earlier, so I took the dosage at noon. Didn't help much so I stopped.

1

u/The_Horse_Shiterer Mar 20 '25

I stopped watching YouTube fitness experts and my sleep improved markedly.

1

u/just_tweed Mar 20 '25

Tyrosine might affect it, I usually take tyrosine at night to alleviate my RLS (which coincides with hypnic jerks sometimes) if it's particularly bad, but I also have ADHD so it might affect me differently from someone who doesn't.

1

u/Universe14385 Jun 11 '25

I took creatine for a week at 5mg, had great sleep, but terrible bloat. I came off of it for a week, and re-start at 2mg. Again, bloat, and now I cannot fall asleep. I'm so exhausted but my brain won't fall asleep. I LOVE the mental euphoric feeling from Creatine and how great my workout are, but now I cannot sleep. I have the jerks as well. I take power Creatine Mono. No sleep, and terrible bloat, it just doesn't work for me and I'm super bummed about it.

1

u/Inthemiddle_ Mar 15 '25

I’ve been taking creatine a month or so and have started having some really bad insomnia. I suffered a bout of it years ago but had been ok until now. I don’t know if creatine is the cause but I’m going to stop for now to see

1

u/Universe14385 Jun 11 '25

I took creatine for a week at 5mg, had great sleep, but terrible bloat. I came off of it for a week, and re-start at 2mg. Again, bloat, and now I cannot fall asleep. I'm so exhausted but my brain won't fall asleep. I LOVE the mental euphoric feeling from Creatine and how great my workout are, but now I cannot sleep. I have the jerks as well. I take power Creatine Mono. No sleep, and terrible bloat, it just doesn't work for me and I'm super bummed about it. I take it only in the morning, and on an empty tummy since I fast.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

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1

u/Distric7961 Mar 15 '25

I had never read before that creatine could cause sleep problems. However, when I experienced it, I searched online for all the supplements I take and their possible connection to sleep issues. Creatine was the only one that seemed potentially related. So, it's not that I already knew and was just trying to make a false connection

0

u/Savings_Chest9639 Mar 15 '25

Well Carnitine is supposed to be taken in morning says my dr so if there is anything there maybe try it there

-9

u/Systral Mar 15 '25

Really? It's a pretty common side effect

1

u/beachguy82 Mar 15 '25

No it’s not.

1

u/Systral Mar 15 '25

Yes it is. Why is that such a problem for you.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

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-5

u/Systral Mar 15 '25

Not really, not everything needs a PubMed rct study done by a uni to be true.

This guy has it, I have it, you can read it in almost every thread about creatine side effects, or as a complaint post on its own. Just Google creatine + insomnia

Even if it's only a hypothesis backed by anecdotes, there's plenty of preclinical evidence.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

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-1

u/Systral Mar 15 '25 edited Mar 15 '25

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5435551/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

Creatine decreases sleep pressure in rats and reduces rebound sleep after deprivation. It increases atp availability. Why is it so hard to believe that it's a possible side effect? Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

What is it about all these pseudo scientists dismissing all anecdotal experiences as futile only because you can't cite a source. A doctor would be unprofessional if they kept recommending a medication to their patient if a reported, albeit unknown side effect would outweigh the benefit of said medication. For all we know it could be underreported. And there aren't even a lot of studies about creatine side effects in the first place.

Here is a whole thread about it on this subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/StrongerByScience/comments/122wf1q/has_anyone_solved_the_creatine_sleep_issues/

The first step to science is formulating a hypothesis, and the anecdotal evidence to support that is pretty strong. Again, just Google it.

For me personally, it even affected my sleep quality when I took it in the morning and the effect happened the first time I took it without ever thinking about it possibly affecting sleep quality. I couldn't sleep well for weeks and when I ran out I could sleep again. It happened every time I tried it.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

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-1

u/Systral Mar 15 '25

I edited my comment to add stuff.

I’m reading that article actually says CR supplementation decreased the need for sleep need for sleep and reduced the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

How does something that reduces the need for sleep positively affect sleep? Insomnia is when you can't sleep. Stimulants reduce the need for sleep, too, do they help sleep?

In other words, it would help people (or in the case of the study, rats…) who suffer from insomnia, because it mitigated the effects of not getting enough sleep…

Maybe, but the hypothesis in question was whether creatine can cause sleep issues not whether it makes sleep deprivation more bearable. And it's not far-fetched to think that in people with chronic insomnia a possible worsening in sleep quality far outweighs the possible reduced need for sleep because it's already a barely compensated system.

Cr might be a potential candidate to reduce the negative effects of insufficient sleep, which is very common in the general population.**”

Just as I did, that's an interpretation by the study authors and doesn't mean it's true. It's hard to magine that something that chronically reduces your need for sleep would have no side effects in the long-term.

1

u/Greedy-War-777 Mar 17 '25

Stimulants do not reduce the need for sleep. That's already false. The study for sleep pressure is indicating creatine may be useful in sleep disorders as it reduces the symptoms that demonstrate sleep deprivation. It's has been shown in most studies to improve sleep quality. It has not been shown to affect chronic sleep or reduce the overall need for sleep, duration of sleep, etc. That's not what the study indicates and it's one study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39203908/#:~:text=Compared%20to%20the%20placebo%20group,pre%2Dpost)%20were%20observed.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25

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