Reflex Training: How to Improve Your Reactions in CS:GO
If you’re a CS:GO fan, you probably know how important it is to have fast reaction times. This is crucial, as it makes the difference between whether you’ll shoot your enemy or you’ll be killed. More precisely, reaction time refers to the time between the sensory stimulus and your response.
However, the stimuli can be both visual and audio. Even though audio stimuli travel faster to the brain, you should still get some reflex training if you’re not satisfied with your reactions in CS:GO.
Considering that in this game, the visual stimuli are more important, let’s see how you can improve your reactions.
Reaction Time Process
Before we share a few tips and tricks about reflex training, let’s first become aware of the process of reaction times. Here’s a brief overview:
- The screen stimulus triggers your sensory neurons
- The stimulus becomes an electro-chemical signal
- It will take around 20-40ms for the signal to reach your brain
- Your brain processes the information and activates a motor neuron in your brain
- This neuron takes the signal from the brain to the muscles that are responsible for reacting
Improving Your CS:GO Reactions: Tips and Tricks
If you want to react faster, you need to maintain a healthy body and mind. This plays a huge role in your reflexes. So, let’s check out some simple tips that will help you.
Always Get Quality Sleep
As you probably know, sleep is crucial for you to be sharp and ready to grasp your day. Basically, you’re usually slower when you have a lack of sleep. In other words, your brain needs sleep so it can work well and process both visual and audio information, on which you can react fast.
Therefore, we recommend you sleep for around 8 hours. This will make sure that your brain is ready for the next day, contributing to faster reflexes while gaming CS:GO, Gravity Roulette, or any other game you prefer.
Take Breaks
You can’t be fully concentrated for hours, and that’s totally normal. As playing for hours can cause mental fatigue, you should take breaks, step away from your PC, walk around a bit, and return to your game. After that, you can easily be more focused and enjoy better reactions.
Eat Well
The food you eat also plays a significant role in your reaction time. More precisely, a nutritious diet enhances the function of your brain, boosts your reflexes and reaction times, and improves your levels of energy.
That said, you may eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy food types that will provide you with the necessary nutrients.
On the other hand, imbalance and poor diet, such as fast food, will lead you to run out of energy more quickly. Also, this contributes to losing focus and lowering your reaction times while gaming.
Drink Enough Water
When you’re sitting in front of your PC and playing CS:GO for hours, you probably lose track of time. Due to this, it’s not surprising at all if you don’t stay hydrated. But this has a much bigger effect than you may think.
Like food, water keeps your brain in an optimal state that is needed for it to function properly. In other words, if you’re dehydrated, you may feel mental fatigue, slower reaction times, and lower alertness. In fact, you may even miss some stimuli while playing CS:GO.
So, you need to drink water throughout the whole day. Begin your day with a glass of water, and even take a bottle with you while gaming so you can remind yourself to stay hydrated.
Utilize Stress Reduction Methods
Our day-to-day lives are very fast-paced and filled with stressful situations. So, it’s normal to feel more stressed from time to time. However, this can have a negative impact on your overall game performance and reaction times. Therefore, it’s good to practice some techniques that will help you reduce stress.
For example, you can take deep breaths or engage in mindfulness. Also, you can use any other method that calms you down. Once you’re calm, you will notice how much more focused you are when you sit in front of your PC and turn on CS:GO.
In-Game Techniques for Improving Your Reactions in CS:GO
- Improve crosshair placement
- Pay attention to audio cues
- Pre-aim for the most common positions
- Master crucial in-game movements
Final Words
The outcome of CS:GO relies on whether you’ll kill your enemy first or they’ll kill you. That’s why it’s crucial to have fast reflexes and great reaction times. While you can improve your reaction times by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, there are also some in-game methods that can help you have better reflexes. So, have a look at our tips once again, and good luck when playing!
