by Did you ever spill hot coffee on your clothes because you missed the mug? Did you miss the green light because your mind went off track? That’s your reaction time waving a red flag. You can turn those mistakes into something to brag about or at least joke about at family meals with a reaction time test. You can find response time in everything, from catching a frisbee at the park to swerving when a squirrel gets too brave on the road.
In your brain, it’s like a “ping” speed. Your brain gets the news, thinks about it, and sends a message to your muscles when anything happens. Snap! Your body reacts quickly if everything goes well. Not so much if your brain is fantasizing. Life can feel like an arcade game when the payoff is bragging rights instead of stuffed animals.
Testing how fast someone can react is both very easy and very important. There is the classic ruler drop test, the one you learned about in science class. You try to grab the ruler when your friend lets go, and you see how many centimeters fell through your fingers before you did. Most people think this is surprisingly hard. There are also digital tests for people who have had their phones tapped. As soon as the color changes, tap the screen to check where you are on the leaderboard.
I once took one of those online tests to see how quickly I could react while eating French fries. Not a good idea! Salt, ketchup, and fast-clicking don’t go along. It turns out that splitting your focus affects your reaction time decline faster than a phone that falls. If you want lightning-fast reflexes, multitasking isn’t going to help you.
These tests are more important to athletes than to couch potatoes. A millisecond can mean the difference between winning an Olympic gold medal and being unknown for sprinters. People who play games? Don’t even let them start. If you twitch too late, it’s game over, or at least a lot of embarrassment. Drivers also gain. A single second sooner reaction can spell the difference between a close call and a fender bender.
Age also likes to join in on the fun of response time. Kids tend to react faster than adults since they have a lot of energy and quick nerves. That could be why your nephew is better at dodging water balloons than you are. Training can help, though. You may save valuable milliseconds by practicing often, playing brain-boosting activities, or even just getting a bit more sleep.
If you keep dropping your keys or spilling another cup of coffee, why not take a reaction time test? You might be astonished by how well you can sneak about like a ninja or how much you want to quit doing two things at once over lunch. No matter what, it’s a fun way to test a skill you use every day. If nothing else works, just blame the squirrel.