I’m in my 40’s and I was just wondering when is the cut off when improvements stop happening and hand eye co-ordination decreases? I assume it does as you get older or is that not so? (I am a Gamer and I enjoy gaming as a means of stress relief and just wondering if there’s been studies saying such.)
In: Biology
Your reaction time drops, but more interesting your interest in that style of game drops as well. Most of my friends just don’t like the shooters as much as we use too. (Late 50’s)
Depends entirely on the person. My dad didn’t start to slow until his 60’s and his reflexes were still insane, his muscles just couldn’t keep up anymore.
Usually I think it has more to do with less time to practice and devote to the game, as well as it being overall less important so the focused practice required for real improvement happens less even when you DO play. I’m about to turn 41 and feel sharp as ever. My uncle who is in his 70’s and spent most of his college free time playing foosball, still does things with a foosball table that I didn’t even think was possible. His coordination and reflexes are still so insane, that IF they have somehow deteriorated, then he must have been Data in college…
But then I know people in their 60’s who struggle to get up and down stairs and probably shouldn’t drive a car.
It’s the reaction time that get worse. I noticed this in myself as I entered my 20s. I used to dominate in FPS games, even when trying one for the first time. That fell off a cliff once I slowed down. My coordination stayed pretty strong though.
It’s all about how much time you are prepared to put into playing, as you get older other things tend to get in the way. Plus you may not be able to physically play 5 hrs plus every day.
However the [Silver Snipers](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/smarter/aging-well-with-smarter-tech/silver-snipers-esports-fight-senior-loneliness/) have proved that given a lot of free time you can become very good as fps.
I’m just past 50, so I’m about the oldest of people who grew up with video games. I’ve always had a little essential tremor that’s limited my accuracy in stressful situations, but it’s gotten worse. My reaction time is probably a bit slower but not too bad, and while my *strategic* thinking is excellent, my snap decision making is not great. But I can’t say that last thing has gotten worse.
Anyway, yeah, I get shaky hands.
Reflex slowdowns as you age are overblown.
We’re talking 2-6 milliseconds per decade after age 25.
I guarantee you teenagers aren’t owning you because they have 4-12ms better “ping” than you.
So why are you really losing to teenagers?
Because they’re probably playing more in a day than you do in a week.
Eh. Switching up genres work. I find as I age, I am just less interested in twitchy games. Much prefer strategy and base building. I have a feeling as I get older, I’ll find a new genre, maybe just farming sims or something.
But to be honest, gaming ain’t what it used to be and that’s VERY GOOD. We’re not stuck with games like Lion King anymore where it’s only meant to be played one way. Customization is now king of the castle. Feeling a little slow? Turn auto aim on. Or decrease difficulty.
Still too hard? Use a trainer or turn on a creative mode. So what if I lose a little hand eye coordination? There’s so many adaptations and accessibility now that it’s a moot point.
Nah, I’m still as bad at video games as I was at 5 years old.
Jokes aside, I enjoy playing games and watching YouTubers do breakdowns and guides for the games I play and I’m always amazed at how much skill difference there can be between myself and them. One of the guys I watch is 41 and he catches every single thing happening on-screen no matter how hectic it is and I fail at trying to replicate the same things he does no matter how hard I try to pay attention to all of the things happening.
I’m convinced some people must experience time at a much slower rate than others and have what seems to be all the time in the world to react to things that others perceive as fractions of a second.
I’m 72 and yes hand eye coordination gets worse each year. I still play Ghost Recon Breakpoint solo daily only because of the wide range of difficulty choices making the game easier. Online multiplayer PvP is long gone! My vision for seeing enemy’s on screen is horrible. Still having a good time just can’t compete with you whippersnappers 😊
Hand-eye coordination is not affected by age generally. But reflexes or reaction times in general can be reduced with age simply due to how your senses can tone down.
Importantly is the word **CAN** since there is no simple rule for this. When your eye sight gets worse reduced reaction time is a must basically since it is depending on sense input. Eye and ear are the most common senses getting worse with age thus limiting one single input into a complex system that is ‘reaction time’
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