Reaction Time.... Secrets

We have all seen some Hollywood movies ( Mission: Impossible for instance.... my favorite) where the hero, during a fight, seems to be predicting all the move the villain makes and defending against it accordingly...
How does he do it???
The answer is reaction time......
Before going deep into it... we must first understand what reaction time or in much more easier words reflex is.....
reflex is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a stimulus, which is a detectable change in the internal or external environment. So "Reaction time is the elapsed time between the presentation of a sensory stimulus and the subsequent behavioral response. In psychometric psychology it is considered to be an index of speed of processing."
I know... it must be a little confusing to some.. don't feel bad about it ( I also had some problems grasping it in the first case). Allow me to simplify it further.  So basically Reaction time is the time taken for you to produce a suitable response (behavioral) at the presentation of a stimulus.
So almost all martial arts teachers teach different methods to decrease your reaction time in a situation.
Now you have the answer to the question above.
Now moving on....

Here is a video on reaction time. Courtesy of  FSN Sports Science.
This is just one application of reaction time from thousands.... We make use of this reaction time almost everyday.

The reaction time is measured mostly in terms of milliseconds.
The key to decrease your reaction speed is to calm down and focus your mind.
This will decrease the traffic of impulses in your brain and thereby decreases your reaction time.

Here are some sites to check your reaction time.
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php
http://getyourwebsitehere.com/jswb/rttest01.html

Here is a simple experiment.

• Randomly pick a male or female student to perform this simple experiment.
• Ask them to extend their hand and hold out their thumb and forefinger.
• The 0 centimeter mark on the ruler should be level in between the subject's fingers.
• Ask them to catch the ruler with these two fingers. Do not give any advanced notice when you release it from rest.
• Record the position of their fingers on the ruler when they catch it.
• Repeat the first 5 steps for more trials.

Analysis

Testing you reaction time is as simple as 123. With a ruler and a friend, you can tell how long a person it takes to react to a change. Having a fast reaction time is vital in sports whether you're in the track, hockey or soccer etc.
In our experiment, one person will drop the ruler and when the subject catches it, you can measure the reaction time. First, we convert the centimeters to meters for a standard measurement. Then, using the distance formula given in the introduction

s = ½at²

since there is no initial distance nor initial velocity. So the time can be found from

t = √2s/a

Explanation
Your nervous system is divided into two parts with a central nervous system (consisting of the brain and the spinal cord) and a peripheral nervous system (composed of all the nerves that deliver messages to the spinal cord). Both parts are at work here. First, the nervous system must recognize a stimulus (the ruler being dropped), then cells in the nervous system called neurons relay the message to the brain, muscles and other nerves. Now the peripheral nerve comes into play: the message travels from the brain to the spinal cord and is finally delivered to your fingers. The motor neurons tell the muscles to catch the ruler.

So i hope its been a wonderful journey for you. Keep on practicing to decrease your reaction time. It really helps. Don't forget to comment your reaction time.

Coming up next.... the secrets to memory...
Keep in touch.