Sushil P Dube et al. Simple visual reaction time in badminton players National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy & Pharmacology | 2015 | Vol 5 | Issue 1 | 176 – 179 NJPPP National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy & Pharmacology DOI: 10.5455/njppp.2015.5.080720141 http://www.njppp.com/ RESEARCH ARTICLE SIMPLE VISUAL REACTION TIME IN BADMINTON PLAYERS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY Sushil P Dube, Shreechakradhar U Mungal, Mukund B Kulkarni Department of Physiology, Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College, Nanded, Maharashtra, India Correspondence Sushil P Dube (drsushilsingh99@gmail.com) Received 27.06.2014 Accepted 08.07.2014 Key Words Badminton; Badminton Players; Reaction Time; Visual Reaction Time; Sports Background: Adequate sports activity improves health and physical development by increasing muscle strength, alertness, sensory development, muscle coordination, speed, strength, and stamina. Many researches show that sports activity reduces reaction time, which is a reliable indicator of rate of processing of sensory stimuli by central nervous system. So the present study is undertaken to evaluate effect of playing badminton on reaction time. Aims & Objective: To compare visual reaction times of badminton players with those of age-matched controls. Materials and Methods: We estimated the visual reaction times of 50 male badminton players of 18–22 years age group who were practicing badminton for 2–3 h/day for a minimum of 2 years. The visual reactions were compared with those of 50 age-matched healthy male students of Dr SCGMC Nanded (Maharashtra, India) who formed the control group. Results: Visual reaction time of dominant as well as non-dominant limb of badminton players was significantly less than that of the control group who were not practicing any sports activity. Conclusion: Our study results support the view that playing badminton is beneficial in improving eye–hand reaction time, muscle coordination, cognitive functions, concentration, and alertness. INTRODUCTION Nowadays people are more involved in playing videogames, watching TV and movies, and exploring the Internet. With modernization, sports such as table tennis, volleyball, badminton, cricket, football are less preferred. [1] Adequate sports activity improves health and physical development by increasing muscle strength, alertness, sensory development, muscle coordination, speed, strength, and stamina. Playing badminton requires a constant analysis of the court, forcing the player to react precisely and quickly. That is why experienced badminton players have the ability to react quickly to the situation during the match and anticipate the opponent’s movements. Research shows that a badminton player in the defensive position has 0.1 s to react to the opponent’s attack. [2] Hence, sports such as badminton, table tennis, and squash have been classified as reaction sports. [3] Reaction time is defined as the period of time that elapses between the occurrence of a stimulus and initiation of the movement. [2] It involves reception of the stimuli by the sense organ, conduction of the information through the nerve to the brain and from the brain to the muscle contraction, and the movement of the muscle. The contribution of the central processes in the brain is usually far larger than all the others put together. [4] Visual reaction time is the time taken by an individual to react to a visual stimulus. Reaction time acts as a reliable indicator of rate of processing of sensory stimuli by central nervous system and its execution in the form of motor response. [5] It determines the alertness of a person because how quickly a person responds to a stimulus depends on his reaction time. There are various factors such as age, sex, left or right hand dominance, central versus peripheral vision, practice, fatigue, fasting, exercise, type of personality, and medical condition that influence reaction time. [6] Many researches show that more experienced players react more quickly than their less experienced counterparts, and there is significantly decreased reaction time in athletes as compared to nonathletic persons. [7,8] A study by Ghuntla et al. [9] found that basketball players had faster reaction time than healthy controls. Another study carried out by Bhabhor et al. [1] found decreases in the visual