Orthopedic surgeon Patrick Denard tests whether creatine can fight jet lag brain fog. A 2025 study found 20 g of creatine improved cognitive performance in sleep-deprived people. After flying Oregon to the UK, Denard upped his dose to 10 g daily and reported feeling mentally sharp despite poor sleep.
Can creatine help you overcome the effects of jet lag? Well, as an orthopedic shoulder surgeon who travels across the country and even internationally many times, this is a topic that's really important to me because when I travel, I need to be at my best. And I just read a study this summer, 2025, that looked at people who were sleep deprived. And in this study, they took naive individuals— that is, they did not have creatine— they didn't let them sleep for 24 hours, gave them 20 grams of creatine, and they performed better on cognitive tests. In fact, better than they would without sleep deprivation. So I'm thinking this may help me with jet lag. So I've just flown across the globe from Oregon to the United Kingdom for a meeting, and I'm now going to increase my creatine content. I have a pack here of a little to-go creatine. I'm gonna put my water— I've taken 5 grams this morning, and we're in the afternoon here. I'm going to take another 5 grams. And my thought here is that typically you have loading at about 5 grams, which I take on a daily basis. So I'm gonna be at 10 today and we're gonna see how it goes and I'll report back tomorrow to see how it goes. I'm gonna plan on taking 3 doses the next day.
Okay, so back with the follow-up with creatine. This is day 3, which is actually the most challenging because I worked day 2. And day 3, I flew back from London to San Francisco and then to Oregon. I have to go to an event tonight, so gotta be sharp, but also the most tired, really long day. This is my third dose of creatine today, so this is 15 milligrams. I would say so far I actually think it's made a difference. I feel sharp despite the lack of sleep. Um, so I think, you know, maybe it's placebo, but I think this is something that I'm going to start using, especially when I travel long distance. It's definitely made an effect for me, at least in my mind mentally. So try it out. Let me know what you think.
