Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Jan;52(1):120-130.
doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002122.

Can Creatine Combat the Mental Fatigue-associated Decrease in Visuomotor Skills?

Jeroen VAN Cutsem  1 , Bart Roelands, Bert Pluym, Bruno Tassignon, J O Verschueren, Kevin DE Pauw, Romain Meeusen
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Can Creatine Combat the Mental Fatigue-associated Decrease in Visuomotor Skills?

Jeroen VAN Cutsem et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: The importance of the brain in sports was recently confirmed by the negative effect of mental fatigue (MF) on sport-specific psychomotor skills. Creatine supplementation improves strength but can also improve cognitive functioning. To explore the role of creatine in combating MF, we evaluated whether creatine supplementation counteracts the MF-associated impairment in sport-specific psychomotor skills.

Methods: In 23°C, 14 healthy participants (4 females, 10 males; mean ± SD, age = 24 ± 3 yr, mass = 74 ± 13 kg, height = 179 ± 9 cm) performed a 90-min mentally fatiguing task (counterbalanced, crossover, and double-blinded; i.e., Stroop task) in two different conditions: after a 7-d creatine supplementation (CR; 20 g·d) and after a 7-d calcium lactate supplementation (placebo [PLAC]), separated by a 5-wk washout. In both conditions, a 7-min sport-specific visuomotor task, a dynamic handgrip strength endurance task, and a 3-min Flanker task was performed before and after the mentally fatiguing task. Physiological and perceptual responses were measured throughout the protocol.

Results: Handgrip strength endurance was higher in CR compared with PLAC (P = 0.022). MF impaired visuomotor response time (+4.4%; P = 0.022) and Flanker accuracy (-5.0%; P = 0.009) in both conditions. Accuracy on the Stroop task was higher in CR compared with PLAC (+4.9%; P = 0.026). Within the perceptual and physiological parameters, only motivation and vigor (P ≤ 0.027) were lower in CR compared with PLAC.

Conclusion: Creatine supplementation improved physical (strength endurance) and prolonged cognitive (Stroop accuracy) performance, yet it did not combat MF-induced impairments in short sport-specific psychomotor or cognitive (Flanker) performance. These results warrant further investigation in the potential role of creatine in combating the MF-associated decrements in prolonged (e.g., 90-min soccer game) sport performance and suggest a role of brain phosphocreatine in MF.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Van Cutsem J, Marcora S, De Pauw K, Bailey S, Meeusen R, Roelands B. The effects of mental fatigue on physical performance: a systematic review. Sports Med. 2017;47(8):1569–88.
    1. Russell S, Jenkins D, Smith M, Halson S, Kelly V. The application of mental fatigue research to elite team sport performance: new perspectives. J Sci Med Sport. 2019;22(6):723–8.
    1. Kurzban R, Duckworth A, Kable JW, Myers J. An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance. Behav Brain Sci. 2013;36(6):661–79.
    1. Taylor IM, Boat R, Murphy SL. Integrating theories of self-control and motivation to advance endurance performance. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2018;1–20.
    1. Martin K, Meeusen R, Thompson KG, Keegan R, Rattray B. Mental fatigue impairs endurance performance: a physiological explanation. Sports Med. 2018;48(9):2041–51.

Publication types