Brain Fog During Menopause: Could Creatine Be Part of the Answer?
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Brain fog is one of those symptoms that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it. It's not quite tiredness, not quite forgetfulness: it's a kind of mental fuzziness that sits over everything. Difficulty concentrating. Words that won't come. Walking into a room and having absolutely no idea why.
For many women going through Perimenopause and Menopause, it's one of the most frustrating and confidence-knocking changes they experience, yet it doesn't get nearly as much attention as the more visible symptoms.
Researchers are increasingly interested in whether Creatine (long associated with gym performance) might have a role to play in supporting cognitive function. The early findings are genuinely interesting, and for once, some of the research focuses specifically on women going through hormonal change.
Here's what we know.
Why does brain fog happen during Perimenopause and Menopause?
To understand why Creatine might help, it helps to understand what's actually going on in the brain during Menopause, because it's more complex than most people realise.
Oestrogen doesn't just regulate your menstrual cycle, it plays an active role in brain energy metabolism, supporting the mitochondria in your neurons (the parts responsible for producing energy) and maintaining the proteins that keep synaptic function running efficiently. When oestrogen levels decline during Perimenopause, the brain's ability to generate and use energy can become less efficient.
Put simply: the brain starts working harder to do the same things. That extra effort shows up as fatigue, slower thinking, difficulty retrieving words, and reduced mental clarity, what we commonly call brain fog.
This matters for the Creatine conversation, because Creatine's primary role in the body is exactly this: helping cells regenerate ATP, which is the body's main fuel source. The brain is extraordinarily energy-hungry (despite making up only around 2% of your body weight, it accounts for approximately 20% of your total energy consumption).
What does Creatine actually do in the brain?
Most people know Creatine as a muscle supplement, so it might come as a surprise that the brain stores Creatine too, and relies on it for the same reason muscles do.
During periods of high cognitive demand (complex problem-solving, managing stress, or trying to concentrate when you're not sleeping well) the brain's ATP stores can become depleted. Creatine helps replenish the phosphocreatine pool that brain cells draw on to regenerate ATP quickly, essentially providing a fast-access energy reserve when demand is high.
This is why researchers began investigating Creatine's potential cognitive benefits in the first place, and why the results, while still emerging, are more plausible than they might initially seem.
What does the research actually say?
The CONCRET-MENOPA Trial (2025)
The most exciting recent development is a 2025 randomised controlled trial (the CONCRET-MENOPA study), which investigated Creatine supplementation specifically in Perimenopausal and Menopausal women. This is significant because most earlier cognitive research was conducted in general adult or elderly populations, not women experiencing hormonal transition.
The trial found that Creatine levels in the frontal cortex (the area responsible for decision-making, memory and attention) increased by 16.4% in the medium-dose supplementation group, compared to just 0.9% in the placebo group. Participants in the low-dose group showed improvements in alertness, executive control, and information processing speed over the 8-week study period.
This is the first human imaging evidence that Creatine supplementation can directly increase brain Creatine levels in women going through Menopause, and that this increase translates to measurable cognitive benefits.
The 2023 Nutrition Reviews Meta-Analysis
A 2023 meta-analysis published in Nutrition Reviews analysed data from multiple randomised controlled trials and found that Creatine supplementation enhanced memory performance in healthy individuals, with particularly notable effects in older adults aged 66 to 76. Importantly, the findings were consistent regardless of sex, dose or duration of supplementation, suggesting the cognitive benefits of Creatine are broadly applicable.
The 2024 Systematic Review
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 randomised controlled trials found significant positive effects of Creatine supplementation on memory and attention. The researchers noted that while some areas (such as overall executive function) require further investigation, the memory findings are among the more consistently supported in the literature.
What Creatine can't do
It's important to be honest here, because the research is still evolving and we don't believe in getting ahead of the science.
Creatine is not a treatment for brain fog. The cognitive symptoms that come with Perimenopause and Menopause are complex and multifactorial, influenced by hormonal changes, sleep quality, stress levels, nutrition and overall health. No single supplement addresses all of that.
What the research suggests is that Creatine may support brain energy metabolism in ways that are particularly relevant during hormonal transition, helping the brain maintain performance during periods of increased demand or reduced efficiency. That's a meaningful, if modest, contribution.
Who might benefit most?
The research to date points to a few groups for whom Creatine's cognitive support may be most relevant.
Women in Perimenopause or Menopause who are experiencing brain fog, difficulty concentrating or mental fatigue alongside hormonal changes (the CONCRET-MENOPA trial was designed specifically with this group in mind).
Women who are sleep-deprived: earlier research on Creatine and cognitive performance under sleep deprivation found that participants maintained better mental performance when supplementing, likely because of the ATP replenishment mechanism.
Women with lower dietary Creatine intake: those who eat little or no red meat tend to have lower baseline Creatine levels, which means supplementation may have a more noticeable effect.
Brain health is health
One of the things that strikes us most about this area of research is that it reframes the conversation around Creatine entirely. This isn't about performance or aesthetics. It's about staying sharp, focused and mentally resilient through a stage of life that asks a lot of women: professionally, personally and physiologically.
Feeling mentally capable matters. Feeling like yourself matters. And while Creatine is one piece of a wider puzzle that includes sleep, nutrition, movement and stress management, it's a piece that deserves to be taken seriously.
Pure micronised Creatine Monohydrate. 5g daily. No fillers, no faff.
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