Human Physiology and Sports Physiotherapy Research Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BELGIUM.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2020 Jan;52(1):120-130. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002122.
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.
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.
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.
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.
大脑在运动中的重要性最近得到了证实，因为精神疲劳（MF）会对特定于运动的精神运动技能产生负面影响。肌酸补充可提高力量，但也可以改善认知功能。为了探讨肌酸在对抗 MF 中的作用，我们评估了肌酸补充是否可以抵消与 MF 相关的特定于运动的精神运动技能损伤。
在 23°C 的环境下，14 名健康参与者（4 名女性，10 名男性；平均 ± 标准差，年龄=24 ± 3 岁，体重=74 ± 13 千克，身高=179 ± 9 厘米）在两种不同条件下进行了 90 分钟的脑力疲劳任务（平衡、交叉和双盲；即斯特鲁普任务）：在 7 天的肌酸补充（CR；20 克·天）和 7 天的乳酸钙补充（安慰剂 [PLAC]）之后，两种条件之间间隔 5 周洗脱期。在两种条件下，在脑力疲劳任务之前和之后，都进行了 7 分钟的特定于运动的视觉运动任务、动态握力耐力任务和 3 分钟的 Flanker 任务。整个方案中都测量了生理和感知反应。
CR 组的握力耐力比 PLAC 组更高（P=0.022）。在两种情况下，MF 都会损害视觉运动反应时间（增加 4.4%；P=0.022）和 Flanker 准确性（减少 5.0%；P=0.009）。CR 组在斯特鲁普任务中的准确性比 PLAC 组更高（增加 4.9%；P=0.026）。在感知和生理参数中，只有动机和活力（P≤0.027）在 CR 组中比 PLAC 组更低。
肌酸补充提高了身体（耐力）和认知（斯特鲁普准确性）的表现，但它并没有对抗 MF 引起的特定于运动的精神运动或认知（Flanker）表现的损伤。这些结果进一步证明了肌酸在对抗长时间（例如 90 分钟的足球比赛）运动表现中与 MF 相关的下降方面的潜在作用，并表明脑磷酸肌酸在 MF 中发挥作用。
