The still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has restricted one and all to stay indoors as much as possible. Even parks and gyms that have reopened now are enforcing stringent social distancing norms, insisting visitors to don on face masks at all times, limiting people from freely venturing out for a brisk walk or rigorous workout. Hence, enthusiastic novices and fitness experts alike are left with no other option but to ensure daily exercise by working out at home, sans face masks, following instructions from trainers, who post their routines via videos on YouTube, Instagram.
Many of you would have wondered how these training professionals sustain their energy levels and power through their intense workouts, without feeling exhausted or lethargic. Well, one of the secrets to their ample dynamism and stamina is creatine!
So What Exactly Is Creatine?
Creatine is a protein-like substance that is naturally present in the muscle cells of the body. It plays a crucial role in generating energy in muscle cells, to persist through a tough workout. Many athletes and bodybuilders often take creatine, in the form of creatine powders and supplements, to greatly elevate their athletic output.
Nevertheless, creatine is not just for the workout pros, but in fact, confers tremendous merits for physical and mental well-being. Being similar to amino acids in structure and function, creatine is very useful in spiking energy supply, enriching muscle strength, building lean muscle mass, apart from managing blood glucose levels and conserving supreme brain potential.
Before taking creatine powders or supplements, it is always advised to consult with a doctor, nutritionist and personal or gym trainer, to understand how best it will suit your body and what dose would be right for you. Read on, to gain further insight into the superb advantages of creatine powders and supplements.
Fantastic Benefits Of Creatine Powder And Supplements For A Fit And Fab Body:
Enhances Physical Endurance
Creatine supplements increase energy production in muscle cells utilizing the power supplier molecule – ATP’s biochemical mechanism. During exercise, ATP in the body is broken down to generate energy. As a high-intensity workout or athletic training progresses, vigour gradually drops. Hence, consuming a drink with creatine powder or supplements in between arduous physical training helps to refuel muscle cells, to perform better, uplift stamina and sustain longer workouts.
Promotes Optimal Weight Gain
Creatine performs numerous key roles in the body cells, to effectively elevate body mass while conserving normal fat distribution throughout the body. It positively modifies cell and tissue, functions, to stimulate the synthesis of protein fibres that form the highly mobile muscles in arms, legs and joints. By creating a surge in water content of cells and influencing hormonal activities, creatine significantly fortifies muscle mass and muscle size, all the while strengthening core connective tissues.
Heals Muscle Injuries
Quite often, intense training sessions result in wounds, as well as wear and tear of muscle fibres. Creatine possesses a remarkable antioxidant property, that aids in eliminating toxins and free radicals from the site of muscle injury, thereby leading to complete healing of the damaged tissue. Moreover, taking creatine powders or supplements in measured amounts during the recovery of strained muscles also relieves muscle cramps and enables a smoother, wider range of motion of muscular tissues.
Regulates Glucose Metabolism
Diabetes is a chronic disease, whose incidence is on the rise, a wholesome, balanced diet and regular exercise is strongly recommended to all patients. Although diabetics should refrain from high-intensity training, they must go for brisk walks, jogging and perform simple movement exercises to flex the body parts. Taking a small portion of creatine powder with a drink will help improve glucose transport to muscle cells, which use up the energy promptly, thus regulating blood sugar levels and keeping diabetes in check.
Also Read: 5 Simple Ways To Manage Diabetes In Summer
Improves Brain Activity
Creatine has some amazing benefits for preserving nervous system functions in the body. Creatine powders and supplements are packed with energy supplying compounds, which power up the brain cells for challenging activities and augment neurotransmitter synthesis. It can also prevent the onset of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia later on in life, besides improving motor neuron operations, to facilitate unobstructed muscular movement as well as foster good moods, sound mental functioning and heightened memory and concentration.
Uplifts Heart Wellness
As creatine essentially increases energy supply in the bloodstream to cells that require vast amounts of momentum, it is rather advantageous in fortifying cardiac muscles, besides boosting lung power, particularly during high-intensity workouts. By preserving optimal strength of the heart and lungs, creatine powders and supplements, when taken in moderate quantities, even aid in preventing pulmonary disorders, heart disease.
Effectively Alleviates Depression
While regular physical activity does indeed positively influence moods and improve cognitive abilities in those suffering from depression, supplementing routine antidepressant medications with creatine further improves mental wellbeing. By promoting neurotransmitter synthesis, activity and elevating the operation of the brain, other cells, tissues in the central nervous system, creatine helps ameliorate a gloomy state of mind, besides mitigating depression, anxiety.
Side Effects Of Creatine Powder And Supplements:
When ingested in measured volumes, creatine powder and supplements are considered to be safe and easily absorbed by the digestive system in most normal, healthy adults. However, in instances where high doses of creatine are consumed frequently, it results in malfunctioning of the kidneys, liver, heart, apart from stomach aches, diarrhoea, nausea. Hence, people with pre-existing kidney problems are strictly instructed not to take creatine powder.
Individuals reporting with chronic health anomalies of diabetes, hypertension are advised to consult with their doctor before ingesting creatine powder. Also, since sufficient scientific evidence from research studies is as of yet unavailable regarding the safety of using creatine during pregnancy, breastfeeding, women who are gestating and lactating are warned against ingesting creatine in any form.
