What happens when you take 25 grams of creatine, five times the standard dose? In 2024, researchers gave people 25 grams of creatine after keeping them awake for 21 hours straight. Here's what happened. The sleep-deprived creatine group showed improved cognitive performance and faster processing speed compared to those who didn't get it or the placebo group. But here's the nuance. The European Food Safety Authority concluded in 2024 that creatine does not enhance cognition in healthy individuals under normal conditions. So what's going on? Creatine appears most effective when the brain is under metabolic stress. It's a restorative effect. About 95% of creatine is stored in skeletal muscle. That remaining 5% is distributed across the brain, heart, and other tissues. And here's what the evidence clearly supports. Muscle and strength. This is well established. Creatine improves high-intensity exercise performance, muscle mass, and recovery. Two, cognitive function. A meta-analysis of eight RCTs found that creatine improved memory, but significantly only in the older population, aged 66 to 76, not in younger individuals. Third, Alzheimer's disease. A 2025 pilot study gave creatine to 19 people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. Brain creatine levels increased, and preliminary improvements in memory were observed. But this was a small, open-label study without a placebo control. So promising for safety. Creatine is remarkably safe. Elevated serum creatine reflects metabolic turnover of creatine, not kidney dysfunction. Next, hair loss. One 2009 study found that creatine increased DHT, but no study has directly shown creatine to cause hair loss, so the findings have never been replicated. So here's the bottom line. For muscle strength and performance, creatine is strongly supported. For cognitive benefits, the evidence is most compelling during metabolic stress and in older adults, but not for baseline enhancement in young, otherwise well-rested individuals. Next, for Alzheimer's disease. Early pilot data is promising, but larger controlled trials are needed. Standard dosing is 5 grams daily. 20 grams or higher may show some acute cognitive effects, but creatine is safe, affordable, and well-researched.