Reaction time–commonly interchanged with the term response time–describes the amount of time that occurs between when we perceive something and when we respond to it. Response and reaction time is the ability to detect a stimulus, process it, and then give the appropriate response to it. One’s reaction time to stimulus is entirely reliant on perception, processing, and response factors. If any of these factors are changed or disrupted, the reaction time will be affected as well. It’s essential to have excellent reaction/response time in all of our day-to-day activities, for it allows us to be quick, agile, efficient, and most importantly, safe. From driving to exercising, holding conversations, and everything in between, it’s essential that we process the information around us accurately. While reaction and response times are a natural occurrence for us, there are many ways to train and improve them. Of course, the FITLIGHT Trainer™ is a top option for this essential form of training and development.
Ways to Measure Response Time
Our brain’s reaction time gauges our ability to interact with our surrounding on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, it’s essential that we measure and assess our response/reaction time every so often to ensure that our cognitive skills are up to par. Measuring our response time is also a good way to ensure that our brain and cognitive skills are functioning normally–i.e., another method to detecting any mild medical problems with perception, processing, and motor skills. While measuring reaction/response time, various tests also look at the working memory, visual scanning, hand-eye coordination, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, naming, visual perception, contextual memory, recognition, sustained attention, and spatial perception. The FITLIGHT Trainer™ is an excellent tool that helps measure response and reaction time, offering both immediate feedback and a comprehensive dashboard allowing individuals, professionals, and trainers to measure and analyze the user’s stimulus response in the various cognitive training activities. Users can determine can measure the response time to determine where they excel and the areas they need to work on.
Improving Your Response Time
Just like there are special exercises to train our bodies and shape our muscles, there are also certain cognitive skills and activities we can perform to improve our reaction/response time to certain stimulus. The ability to rehabilitate our reaction time comes from the concept of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity or neural plasticity, is the brain’s ability to restructure itself by means of forming new neural connections. The neurons can adjust their activities in response to the activities or environmental changes that they are presented with. To help shape and strengthen your response time to certain events and activities, it’s essential to take part in brain exercises that will challenge your mind and fortify neural networks. Training tools like the FITLIGHT Trainer™ is also an excellent option for cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation.
The best results in improved reaction/response time come from consistent and effective training. We recommend taking part in appropriate brain exercises for at least 15 minutes each day for optimal reaction and response time. For more information on how the FITLIGHT Trainer can be used to improve cognitive stimulation, check out this awesome video featuring Dr. Sarah McEwen of Genius Gym and how she implements the FITLIGHT Trainer:
