Your Brain Uses 20% of Your Energy. Nobody Tells Women Over 40 What That Means.

By Jessica M.

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Last Updated Mar 3.2025

I'm not a doctor. I'm a 49-year-old woman who got tired of hearing "it's just stress." So I started reading. Here's what I found — including the part most supplement companies leave out.

By Dana, 49

It was a Thursday.

 

Grocery store. Produce section.

 

A woman I've known for eleven years waved at me from the apples. Our daughters did swim team together.

 

And her name was gone.

 

Not "on the tip of my tongue" gone.

 

Gone gone.

 

I smiled. I said "Hey, you!" in that bright voice we all use when we're faking it. We talked for four minutes. I never said her name once.

 

In the car, I sat with the engine off.

 

Her name was Lisa.

 

It came back in the parking lot. Of course it did.

That wasn't the first time.

 

It was just the first time I stopped pretending.

 

Words that vanished in the middle of meetings.

 

Walking into the laundry room and forgetting why.

 

Sticky notes that had quietly taken over the inside of my kitchen cabinet.

I blamed stress. Sleep. Too much on my plate.

 

And some nights, lying awake, I honestly wondered if I was losing my mind.

 

So I did what I always do when something scares me.

 

I started reading.

 

Not ads. Real studies. The boring kind.

 

Here's what I learned. I'll keep it simple — the way I wish someone had explained it to me.

Your brain is a big eater

Your brain is about 2% of your body. But it uses about 20% of your energy.¹

Two percent of you uses one-fifth of everything you've got.

 

Every word you find. Every name you remember. Every time you walk into a room and know why you're there.

 

That all takes energy.

 

Here's how it works.

 

Every cell in your body runs on tiny batteries. Brain cells too.

 

You use them up. They run low. They need to be charged back up.

 

And your cells keep a quick charger on hand. A fast way to top those batteries back up when you need it.

 

That quick charger runs on something called creatine.

 

Yes. Creatine.

 

The stuff in giant tubs at the gym.

 

I laughed out loud when I read that. Then I kept reading.

Where creatine comes from

Your body makes some creatine on its own.

 

Mostly in your liver and kidneys.¹

 

The rest comes from food. Mostly meat and fish.

 

That made me think about how I eat now.

 

Twenty years ago, I ate steak without a second thought.

 

Now? Lots of salads. Lots of chicken. Some weeks, hardly any red meat.

 

I'm not saying that's wrong.

 

I'd just never thought about what else I might be eating less of.

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Then I found the part about hormones

This is where it got personal.

 

Your hormones affect how your body makes and uses creatine.²

 

That's not a supplement company talking. That's what researchers have been writing for years. Mostly nobody outside a lab was listening.

 

Then, in 2026, two researchers used brain scans to measure creatine in 12 women going through perimenopause.

 

Their brain creatine was lower than typical levels in younger adults.

 

And in certain areas of the brain, lower creatine went along with more trouble concentrating.³

 

I read that part four times.

 

But I want to be honest here.

 

That study had 12 women. Twelve.

 

It didn't test any supplement.

 

It doesn't prove low creatine causes anything. It doesn't prove taking creatine fixes anything.

 

What it did was look.

 

Someone finally looked at what's happening in the brains of women like me.

 

And for the first time in a year, I felt like what I was going through had a name. That I wasn't making it up.

 

That feeling alone was worth all the reading.

Here's the part the other brands leave out

Search "creatine for brain fog" and you'll find big promises.

 

So I went looking for the studies behind them.

 

Here's what they actually found. In plain words.

 

One study gave older women creatine every day for six months. A week of bigger doses, then five grams a day. Their memory and thinking didn't change.⁴

 

A small study followed 15 women, average age 54, for fourteen weeks of creatine and strength training. Their strength went up. Their scores on thinking tests didn't change.⁵

 

One study in menopausal women was encouraging. But it split 36 women into four groups. The group that improved took a different kind of creatine, at less than a third of a normal scoop. And what got better was reaction time — how fast they responded on a test.⁶

 

When researchers put a bunch of memory studies together, the clearest benefit showed up in adults 66 to 76. Even the researchers said to be careful with that result.⁷

 

So here it is, plain and simple:

 

Nobody can honestly promise you that creatine will bring your words back.

 

Not me. Not a brand. Not someone with a discount code.

 

The research in women in their 40s and 50s is still early.

 

If a company tells you something different, you just learned something about that company.

So why did I start taking it?

Good question. I asked myself the same thing.

 

Here's where I landed.

 

Creatine monohydrate is one of the most studied supplements there is.

 

It supports the energy in your cells — including your brain cells.*

 

It supports strength when you do regular strength exercise.* And after 40, I care about being strong more than I ever did at 30.

 

My body already makes it. I'm not adding something strange. I'm topping off what's already there.

 

It costs less than a dollar a day.

 

And it takes four seconds. One scoop. In my coffee. Done.

I didn't need a miracle.

 

I needed to feel like I was doing something sensible. Something based on how my body actually works. Instead of lying awake, scared.

 

I did the other things too.

 

I walk every morning now. I lift weights twice a week — badly. And I told my doctor everything. I should have done that a year sooner.

 

Creatine wasn't the answer.

 

It was one small, sensible step in taking myself seriously again.

What actually changed

I'll be honest here too.

 

I still lose a word sometimes.

 

Last week I called the dishwasher "the plate washer" in front of my son. He will never let it go.

 

The difference is what happens inside me when it does.

 

It used to feel like a trapdoor. Like proof of something terrible.

 

Now it just feels like a Tuesday.

 

I understand what's happening in my body.

 

I know it has a name.

 

I know I'm not the only one. Not even close.

 

And I stopped hiding it.

 

I called Lisa, by the way. Told her the whole story.

 

She laughed and said, "Oh my God. Last month I forgot my own PIN at the bank."

 

We get coffee every Thursday now.

If you try creatine, here's what to look for

After all that reading, this is my short list.

Creatine monohydrate. It's the most studied kind by far.

5 grams a day. That's the usual daily amount.

No "loading phase." Some brands tell you to take 20 grams a day for a week. You don't need to. That's also when people are most likely to notice water weight.

Unflavored. No mystery blend. You should see exactly what's in it.

Tested for purity and heavy metals. Ask for the Certificate of Analysis. If a company won't show you one, that tells you something.

A company that's honest about the research. If they promise your memory back, keep scrolling.

Questions I had (maybe you have them too)

"Isn't creatine for bodybuilders?"

Gyms just found it first. Your body makes it on its own and uses it everywhere — including your brain.

"Will it make me bloated?"

Some people notice a little water in their muscles, mostly with those big loading doses. At 5 grams a day, most people don't notice anything.

"I'm on HRT. Can I take it?"

Creatine isn't a hormone. It doesn't replace anything your doctor gave you. Ask your doctor before starting any supplement — especially if you have kidney concerns, take medication, or are pregnant or nursing.

"Is it safe?"

It's one of the most studied supplements there is, and most people do fine with it. A few people feel jittery or unsettled. If anything feels off, stop and talk to your doctor.

The one I use

After all that, I went looking for a creatine that checked every box on my list.

 

Most were made for 25-year-old guys. Neon labels. Flavors like "Blue Razz Blast."

 

Then I found Lightanchor.

 

What got me wasn't the jar. It was their website.

 

Right there on the product page, they say it:

 

Research in women in their 40s and 50s is still early. We won't pretend otherwise.

 

I said "finally" out loud.

 

Here's what's in it — and what isn't:

5g creatine monohydrate per scoop

99.9%+ pure, tested for purity and heavy metals

Made in a GMP-certified, FDA-registered facility in the USA

Unflavored — it stirs right into coffee

No loading phase, no mystery blend

50 scoops a jar — less than a dollar a day

See Lightanchor Daily Creatine →

Free US shipping on every order · 60-day money-back guarantee

If you're where I was a year ago — standing in a produce aisle, smiling too hard, hoping nobody notices — I want you to hear this:

 

You're not the only one.

 

It has a name.

 

And you're allowed to take it seriously.

 

— Dana

See Lightanchor Daily Creatine →

Sources

Each link below opens in a new tab.

  1. Forbes SC, et al. Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Brain Function and Health. Nutrients. 2022;14(5):921. doi.org/10.3390/nu14050921
  2. Smith-Ryan AE, et al. Creatine Supplementation in Women's Health: A Lifespan Perspective. Nutrients. 2021;13(3):877. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7998865
  3. Ostojic SM, Ostojic J. Brain creatine, estradiol and neurocognitive complaints in perimenopausal women: an exploratory cross-sectional study. Neuroscience Letters. 2026. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42061673
  4. Alves CRR, et al. Creatine supplementation associated or not with strength training upon emotional and cognitive measures in older women: a randomized double-blind study. PLoS One. 2013. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24098469
  5. Hall L, et al. Impact of creatine supplementation on menopausal women's body composition, cognition, estrogen, strength, and sleep. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025;22(Suppl 1). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12291186
  6. Korovljev D, et al. The Effects of 8-Week Creatine Hydrochloride and Creatine Ethyl Ester Supplementation on Cognition, Clinical Outcomes, and Brain Creatine Levels in Perimenopausal and Menopausal Women (CONCRET-MENOPA): A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2025. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40854087
  7. Prokopidis K, et al. Effects of creatine supplementation on memory in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutrition Reviews. 2023;81(4):416–427. doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuac064