When I was a kid, I used to play cowboys with my pals Geoff and Pete. We had toy pistols that make a great bang when we did our gun draw duels, but I was always the slowest to draw my gun and was always the first to ‘die’. We used to talk about having ‘quick reflexes’, but what we really meant was quick ‘reactions’.

Our reflexes are actually a test of nerve function. We test patients reflexes a lot here in the clinic, because we want to know if their nerves are working properly. Is it good to have fast reflexes, or slow reflexes? Find out in this short video!

If you want to read the BMJ article about reflexes, you can find it here.