Can I take creatine before bed with magnesium?

What the creatine timing literature actually says, because the bedtime question is a timing question about creatine

Can I take creatine before bed with magnesium is, on inspection, a question about creatine's timing with magnesium as a given, and the creatine timing literature answers it more precisely than the folklore does. The trials that have compared creatine before training with creatine after it are small, a handful of studies in trained men over several weeks, and they report at most marginal differences, one suggesting a slight edge for post-training in body composition and others finding none, with the consistent finding across the literature being that total daily intake and consistency determine muscle creatine saturation, the position stand's conclusion that three to five grams a day, every day, saturates the stores over three to four weeks whatever the hour, and that a missed dose matters more than a mistimed one. No trial has compared bedtime creatine with any other hour and none needed to, creatine having no stimulant, no acute effect and no absorption window, so a bedtime dose is a dose taken and saturation proceeds, the creatine pages' standing finding, and a lifter who takes creatine at bedtime because that is when the magnesium routine happens has chosen consistency over a marginal and contested pre-or-post edge, which the literature supports.

The bedtime practicalities nobody mentions, the magnesium half as a given, and the routine filed

The practicalities of creatine at bedtime are the things the timing debate never mentions and the things that actually decide whether the routine survives. Fluid volume: creatine is dissolved in liquid, and a pint of water at bedtime is a bathroom trip at two, so the bedtime dose goes in a small glass, a hundred millilitres or so, stirred until it dissolves, or is taken with the last mouthfuls of the evening meal's drink, the volume being the reader's choice and the creatine indifferent to it. Taste: plain monohydrate in water is faintly chalky, tolerable at breakfast and less welcome last thing, so a splash of juice or a flavoured creatine solves it, the creatine indifferent again. Solubility: monohydrate dissolves better in warm liquid than cold, and a bedtime tea or warm water takes it cleanly, with the honest note that creatine degrades slowly in solution over hours and days, not minutes, so a drink made and drunk is fine and a drink made at breakfast for bedtime is not. The magnesium half is the section's given: bisglycinate at 300mg elemental with the evening meal, the anchor most lifters keep, the best-tolerated salt, taken for the register's nervous-system, psychological-function and fatigue claims and holding no sleep claim, the every-night page's habit, and it sits beside the creatine glass with no interaction, the magnesium-and-creatine absorption page's finding that neither helps nor hinders the other. The routine filed: creatine at bedtime in a small glass, magnesium capsules beside it or with the evening meal an hour earlier, both daily, both clockless, both fine, the worked example's two capsules and a creatine glass being a two-minute end to the day that the literature has no objection to and adherence has every reason to keep, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p.

The verdict, consistency over a contested edge

Can I take creatine before bed with magnesium: yes, the creatine timing trials finding at most marginal and contested differences between before and after training and consistency deciding saturation, so that a bedtime dose is a dose taken with no stimulant and no window against it, the practicalities being a small glass rather than a pint, a flavour or warm water for the taste, and a drink made and drunk rather than left, with magnesium bisglycinate at the evening meal as the section's default beside it and no interaction between them. The magnesium half: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, two capsules with the evening meal, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Does it matter whether I take creatine before or after training?

Barely: the small trials comparing the two report at most marginal differences, one suggesting a slight post-training edge and others none, with total daily intake and consistency determining saturation, so a missed dose matters more than a mistimed one.

Is creatine at bedtime as effective as creatine in the morning?

Yes: creatine saturates muscle stores through daily intake over three to four weeks whatever the hour, has no stimulant and no absorption window, and no trial has found any hour worse than another.

How should I take creatine at night without needing the bathroom?

In a small glass, around a hundred millilitres, stirred until dissolved, or with the last of the evening meal's drink, with warm water or a splash of juice helping the taste and solubility.

Can I make my creatine drink in the morning and drink it at bedtime?

Better not: creatine degrades slowly in solution over hours and days, so a drink made and drunk is fine and one left all day has lost some of its creatine to creatinine.

Does magnesium affect creatine absorption or the other way round?

Neither: the two neither help nor hinder each other, so magnesium capsules beside a creatine glass at bedtime or with the evening meal an hour earlier are equally fine.

Sources

1. The creatine timing literature: small trials comparing creatine before and after training report at most marginal differences, with daily consistency and total intake determining muscle saturation rather than the hour of the dose. PubMed record
2. Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2017;14:18. PubMed record
3. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to creatine and increase in physical performance during short-term, high intensity, repeated exercise bouts. EFSA Journal 2011;9(7):2303. https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2011.2303
4. The GB claims register, magnesium entries: magnesium contributes to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue, normal psychological function, normal nervous system function, normal muscle function and electrolyte balance, among others. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register

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