Slowed Reaction Time
Slowed Reaction Time
“I’ve been playing hockey since the 1920s, and I’m still a good enough skater and stick handler to play recreational hockey every Monday night with people half my age and younger,” says Walker, the oldest registered female hockey player in Canada. “I just love this game.”
In a game that requires quick feet, quick thinking, and quick reactions, she is still swift enough to play—and win. “My reflexes are still real fast, and hockey has helped keep them that way,” says Walker, who plays center for Mickey’s Mares of Bala, Ontario. “I can take a deck of cards, put the edge of the cards over the edge of a table, tip them up, and catch them in mid-air. That’s how fast my reflexes still are.”
Okay, Mickey Walker is an extraordinary woman. But her nimbleness is well within the reach of all of us, says Charles Richman, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the martial arts program at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Granted, Mickey has maintained her physical and mental abilities through an inordinate amount of practice and exercise. “But I presume that anyone can do that. We all have the capability to slow down the processes that diminish reaction time as we age,” Dr. Richman says.
In a sense, almost everything we do is a reaction. If you feel cold, you grab a blanket. If you see a pot boiling over, you instinctively reach for it. But as you age, your sensory organs—eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin—that help your brain stay in touch with the outside world all gradually wear down. Eyesight dims, hearing fades, smells and tastes become less distinct, and your sense of touch becomes less refined.
Meanwhile, the nerves that relay this sensory information to your brain and activate your muscles to get you moving become less efficient. As a result, it takes you longer to gather and process information about the world around you and then react to it, says Augustine DiGiovanna, Ph.D., author of Human Aging: Biological Perspectives and professor of biology at Salisbury State University in Maryland.
Even when we’re in peak condition, reaction time slows about 6 percent every 10 years, starting at about age 30, Dr. Richman says. So by the time you get to age 80, even if you are in terrific health like Mickey Walker, you’ve lost about 30 percent of your ability to react quickly.
“As we get older, we become less competitive and stop doing the very things—like exercising and eating well—that would help us maintain good reaction time,” Dr. Richman says. “We become grandmothers and grandfathers. The problem is that we assume our time is over. We sit back and allow whatever happens to happen. We shouldn’t. We are still able to make things happen.”
But even grandparents can have better than average reaction times for their ages, says Harry Jaffe, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. Here are a few ways to keep your reflexes in tip-top condition.
Try This First
“The better conditioned you are, the better your muscles are going to work, and the better your reaction time will be, Dr. Jaffe says. “It’s hard to ask a muscle to do something quickly if you’ve been sitting in a chair for 15 years.”
He recommends doing a physical activity you enjoy—like ballroom dancing or gardening—for at least 20 minutes a day, three times a week.
Other Wise Ways
See the sights, hear the crowd. Hearing and vision problems account for up to 80 percent of problems with reaction time, Dr. Jaffe says. So get your eyesight and hearing checked at least once a year after age 60.
Bridge the gap. Chess, jigsaw puzzles, and other challenging mind games not only keep your brain alert, they also may shave your reaction time, says Gisele Wolf-Klein, M.D., chief of geriatric medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.
“Even card games like bridge can help because you have to think quickly, you have to add quickly, and you have to move quickly to play,” Dr. Wolf-Klein says.
Jack be nimble. Playing jacks, Ping-Pong, and other games involving hand-eye coordination can improve your reflexes, too, suggests Jim Buskirk, licensed physical therapist at Balance Centers of America in Chicago.
Play ball. Just playing paddleball for one to two minutes twice a day can help speed your reaction time, Buskirk says.
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Managing Your Meds Avoid using sleeping pills, tranquilizers, and excessive amounts of alcohol. They can dangerously slow your reaction time in a crisis, says Gisele Wolf-Klein, M.D., chief of geriatric medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York. It’s particularly vital for seniors to avoid these numbing influences. When your body is older, you don’t metabolize drugs the way you did when you were younger, so they linger longer in your body, slowing down your reflexes. In fact, the effects of a drug like diazepam (Valium) can linger for up to three days after an older person takes it, Dr. Wolf-Klein says. If you drink, limit yourself to one 12-ounce beer, one 4-ounce glass of wine, or a 1-ounce shot of liquor a day, she advises. |
You also could cut out a variety of letters, small shapes, and colored pieces of paper and tape them to a ball. Then bounce the ball off a wall. As you bounce the ball, spot and call out one or more of the colors, shapes, or letters before you catch it, Buskirk suggests.
Earn a belt. Martial arts are a terrific way for seniors to improve their reflexes, Dr. Richman says. These ancient Eastern techniques build muscle strength, improve flexibility and concentration, and force you to react quickly.
“One of my tae kwon do instructors is 67 years old and his reaction time is great. It’s not as good as some of the young football players in his class, but he certainly has better reflexes than most 40-year-olds,” Dr. Richman says.
If you are over the age of 60, Dr. Richman recommends that you try tai chi, aikido, kung fu, or any other form of low-impact martial arts that focuses on developing fluid, dancelike movements. Check your phone directory to locate a martial arts school near you.