Creatine, training and sleep in perimenopause: what one new study found

If you're in your forties or fifties and feel like your sleep, focus and body have been changing the rules, you're not imagining it. A new study looked at whether creatine, a supplement many lifters already know, might have a role alongside training for women going through perimenopause.

What the study did

The researchers recruited 51 women in perimenopause, with an average age of 46. They split them into three groups: one took creatine and did strength training, one took a placebo and did the same training, and a control group did not train. There were 18 women in the creatine group, 20 in the placebo group and 13 in the control group.

Both supplement groups started with a five-day loading phase, then moved to a lower daily maintenance amount for six weeks. Over those weeks, they trained twice a week with high-intensity resistance work that got progressively harder.

The team checked thinking skills using two tests: the Stroop test, which measures how quickly you respond to colour and word clashes, and the Rey 15-item memory test. They also used functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a light-based sensor placed on the forehead, to estimate blood oxygen levels in the front part of the brain. These checks happened at the start, before training and after training.

Sleep and symptoms were tracked every day with a WHOOP wristband. Participants also reported how they felt across five areas: temperature sensitivity, fatigue, muscle soreness, brain fog and bloating.

What it found

Reaction times on the Stroop test got faster over time, but this happened in all groups, and there was no difference between them. In other words, the improvement was not clearly linked to creatine.

Brain oxygen levels during the Stroop test told a different story. In the creatine group, levels rose slightly by the end of the study (+0.32%). In the placebo group, they fell (−1.62%). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.003).

Sleep consistency also differed. There was a clear interaction between time and treatment (p < 0.001). By week six, the creatine group had higher sleep consistency than the placebo group, a difference of 7.4 percentage points after adjusting for starting levels (p = 0.015).

The authors also reported fewer days of temperature sensitivity in the creatine group compared with placebo. The summary available to us does not give the numbers for this result, so it is hard to judge how big the effect was.

What it means in the gym

The most useful message here is probably about the training itself. All the groups that trained took part in a short, twice-weekly routine, which is realistic for many busy people. The study suggests that sticking with consistent resistance work may be one piece of a bigger picture that includes sleep and how you feel day to day.

• Twice-weekly strength sessions are a manageable starting point for many people.
• Tracking your own sleep and symptoms, even roughly, can show you patterns worth discussing with a professional.
• Consistency across weeks seems to matter more than any single session.

If you're thinking about creatine, talk to your doctor first, especially if you are going through perimenopause, have other health conditions or take medication. Do not treat this study as a reason to start or change any supplement on your own.

The limits of this study

This is one study, and the authors describe the main analysis as exploratory. That means it was not designed to test one clear question with a fixed plan, so the results should be treated as a starting point rather than a firm answer.

The groups were small, with 13 to 20 women each. The study ran for only six weeks. The brain oxygen measure shows changes in blood oxygen, not directly how well someone is thinking. Sleep and symptoms were tracked with a consumer wristband and self-reporting, which can be affected by how people feel about the study. The control group did not train, so it can't tell us as much about training on its own as the placebo comparison does.

The Stroop and memory results did not differ between the creatine and placebo groups, and the study has not yet been repeated by other teams. We also don't know from the summary how factors like diet or existing sleep habits were handled.

Taken together, this is an interesting early signal, not proof that creatine improves sleep or brain function in perimenopause. If you want help fitting regular strength work into a busy week, a Wellonis coach can help you plan it.

The study

Creatine supplementation effects on cognition, sleep, and menopause symptoms in response to six weeks of high-intensity resistance training in perimenopausal females. European journal of applied physiology (2026).

PubMed: PMID 42926218