How to Improve Your Reaction Time

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is the single most impactful factor in reaction time performance. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night. Research consistently shows that sleep deprivation slows reaction time by 20-30%, an impairment comparable to being legally drunk. Even a single night of poor sleep (under 6 hours) can add 30-50ms to your average reaction time.

Prioritize a consistent sleep schedule, a dark and cool bedroom, and avoiding screens 30 minutes before bed. Your circadian rhythm also matters: most people are fastest in the late morning and early afternoon.

Practice Regularly

Deliberate practice is the most direct way to improve. Just 15 minutes per day of focused reaction time training can produce measurable results within a week. The key is consistency: short daily sessions outperform occasional long ones because they reinforce the neural pathways responsible for fast responses.

Vary your practice across different stimulus types. Combine visual reaction tests, audio reaction tests, and color discrimination tests to train multiple pathways. Track your results so you can see your progress over time.

Exercise Regularly

Aerobic exercise improves cognitive processing speed by increasing blood flow to the brain and promoting neuroplasticity. Studies show that people who exercise regularly have 10-15% faster reaction times than sedentary individuals.

The best exercises for reaction time include running or jogging (20-30 min, 3-4 times per week), cycling, swimming, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Sports that require quick reflexes, such as table tennis, boxing, and basketball, provide a double benefit by combining physical fitness with reaction training.

Stay Hydrated

Your brain is roughly 75% water, and even mild dehydration (1-2% body weight loss) can measurably impair cognitive performance. Dehydrated individuals show slower reaction times, reduced attention, and more errors in decision-making tasks.

Aim for 2-3 liters of water per day, more if you exercise or live in a hot climate. Keep a water bottle nearby during gaming sessions or training. If you notice your reaction times slipping during a long session, dehydration may be a contributing factor.

Use Caffeine Strategically

Caffeine is one of the most well-studied cognitive enhancers. A dose of 100-200mg (roughly one to two cups of coffee) has been shown to improve reaction time by 5-10% while also improving alertness and sustained attention.

Timing matters: caffeine peaks in your bloodstream 30-60 minutes after consumption. Take it before training or competition, not during. Avoid caffeine after 2 PM to protect your sleep, and be aware that tolerance builds with regular use. Cycling off caffeine periodically helps maintain its effectiveness.

Play Action Video Games

Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that action video game players, particularly those who play first-person shooters (FPS), have significantly faster reaction times than non-gamers. The fast-paced decision-making required in these games trains the brain to process visual information more quickly and respond with less hesitation.

Even non-gamers who start playing action games show improvement after just 10-30 hours of gameplay. The benefits transfer to real-world tasks, not just in-game performance. Combine gaming with dedicated aim training for the best results.

Practice Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation improves reaction time by training your ability to sustain attention and reduce mental noise. Focused-attention meditation, where you concentrate on a single point like your breath, directly exercises the neural circuits involved in detecting and responding to stimuli.

Start with 10-15 minutes daily. Research on experienced meditators shows they have faster and more consistent reaction times compared to non-meditators, with reduced variability between attempts. Even beginners see benefits after a few weeks of consistent practice. Apps like Headspace or simple breath-counting exercises are great starting points.

Optimize Your Setup

For gamers and competitive users, your hardware can add or subtract milliseconds before your brain even enters the equation. Key factors to optimize:

• Monitor refresh rate: 144Hz or higher. A 60Hz monitor adds up to 16.7ms of display latency vs. 6.9ms on 144Hz.
• Input lag: Use a wired mouse and keyboard. Wireless adds 1-10ms of latency depending on the device.
• Mouse polling rate: Set to 1000Hz (1ms report interval) rather than the default 125Hz (8ms).
• Game mode: Enable game mode on your monitor and disable V-Sync to reduce rendering delay.

These optimizations can shave 10-30ms off your measured reaction time, which adds up in competitive scenarios.

Do Specific Drills

Targeted drills train specific aspects of your reaction speed. Vary between these to build well-rounded reflexes:

• Simple reaction test: Respond to a single stimulus as fast as possible. Builds raw speed. Try it here.
• Choice reaction test: Respond only to a specific color or stimulus. Builds discrimination speed. Try the color test.
• Sequence memory: React to increasingly complex patterns. Builds working memory and recall speed. Try the sequence test.
• Aim training: Click on targets that appear at random positions. Builds hand-eye coordination. Try the aim trainer.
• Anticipation training: Practice with the F1-style lights-out test to improve your reaction to expected events. Try the F1 test.

Reduce Alcohol and Avoid Drugs

Alcohol significantly impairs neural processing speed, even in moderate amounts. Just two drinks can increase reaction time by 15-25%. The effects persist well beyond the feeling of intoxication: reaction times remain elevated for 12-24 hours after heavy drinking due to disrupted sleep and residual neurological effects.

Recreational drugs including cannabis, benzodiazepines, and opioids all significantly slow reaction time. If peak cognitive performance matters to you, minimizing or eliminating these substances is one of the highest-impact changes you can make. Learn more about how substances affect your brain on our science of reaction time page.