Our researchers should be able to easily replicate this study in stroke survivors to see if the same results occur. Then you could ask your doctor what can be done to speed up your reaction time. And after you pick yourself up off the floor from laughing at the answer you can go home and google your own answer.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=138413&CultureCode=en
Having a slow reaction time in midlife increases risk of having died
15 years later, according to new research published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Researchers from UCL and the University of Edinburgh looked at data
from more than 5,000 participants (age 20 to 59) collected from the
Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III) in
the US. At the start of the study in 1990s, participants visited an
examination centre and had their reaction times measured. The task was
very simple – they had to press a button when they saw an image appear
on a computer screen. Over the next 15 years, they were followed to
record who had died and who survived.
A total of 378 (7.4%) people in the sample died, but those with
slower reaction times were 25% more likely to have died (from any cause)
compared to those with average reaction times. This remained the case
after the researchers had accounted for the participants’ age, sex,
ethnic group, socio-economic background and lifestyle factors into
account. There was no relationship between reaction time and death from
cancer or respiratory problems.
Lead researcher Dr Gareth Hagger-Johnson, from the UCL Department of
Epidemiology and Public Health, said: “Reaction time is thought to
reflect a basic aspect of the central nervous system and speed of
information processing is considered a basic cognitive ability (mental
skill). Our research shows that a simple test of reaction time in
adulthood can predict survival, independently of age, sex, ethnic group
and socio-economic background. Reaction time may indicate how well our
central nervous and other systems in the body are working. People who
are consistently slow to respond to new information may go on to
experience problems that increase their risk of early death. In the
future, we may be able to use reaction times to monitor health and
survival. For now, a healthy lifestyle is the best thing people can do
in order to live longer”.
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