The biology of competitive gaming
NeuroFPS is an independent research publication that applies sports science to esports. It examines sleep, stimulants, physiology and the neuroscience of reaction time against the published evidence, in milliseconds wherever the studies allow.
Try it below: a five-round reaction time test, based on the one sleep scientists use, with your results plotted against real lab data.
Lab average: 24 ranked FPS players on the same type of test (Rogers et al. 2024). Lab equipment has almost no delay, while a home monitor, mouse and browser usually add some, so expect your numbers to be a little slower.
Latest research
All researchCan You Buy 38 Milliseconds?
Caffeine, L-theanine and the tired brain. What controlled trials in FPS players and sleep-deprived adults actually measured, in milliseconds, and why the biggest numbers come with the biggest caveats.
Pharmacology, 14 min readIs Sleep the Most Underrated Performance Enhancer in Esports?
One night without sleep slowed ranked players by 48.6 ms and multiplied their lapses fivefold. Their match results did not change. What the sleep research actually says about competitive play, and why the damage hides where players are not looking.
Recovery, 13 min readWhy Faster Reactions Don't Win Gunfights
The visual brain can categorise a scene in about 150 ms, and a 240 Hz frame lasts 4.2 ms. The rest of a gunfight is decided by what happens before the enemy appears. An essay on the limits of the millisecond.
Reaction, 11 min readClutch Round Pharmacology: Pouches and Performance Under Pressure
Capsules are a pre-match decision. Pouches can be used between maps, mid-session or before a decider. A look at nicotine and L-theanine pouches, what the absorption data show, and why arousal follows a curve, not a line.
Pharmacology, 12 min readDoes Testosterone Matter in Competitive Gaming?
Higher testosterone, faster reactions, more dominance in the server. The idea is everywhere in optimisation culture. The best trials, including one in 493 men, tell a far less flattering story.
Physiology, 10 min readSix research areas
A player is a whole system, not a number of hours played.
Reaction
Reaction time, perception, aim and the neuroscience of a gunfight.
Pharmacology
Caffeine, L-theanine, nicotine, nootropics and peptides, graded on human evidence.
Recovery
Sleep, circadian timing and the true cost of a twelve-hour day.
Physiology
Hormones, fitness, glucose and the body behind the mouse hand.
Mind
Pressure, tilt, arousal and the psychology of consistency.
Longevity
What high-level gaming does for memory, attention and the ageing brain.
The compound database
Caffeine to peptides, graded on controlled human evidence. A millisecond figure appears only when a primary paper reports one, and every entry states who was tested: rested or sleep-deprived, gamers or not.
Open the database| Compound | Grade | Reaction-time effect |
|---|---|---|
| Caffeine | A | −11 to −18 ms mean PVT reaction time at 1 and 3 mg/kg in FPS players vs water (290.8 → 279.8 / 273.0 ms). |
| L-theanine | C | −27.8 ms response time to visual targets vs placebo (fMRI study, n = 9 men). |
| Caffeine + L-theanine | B | −38.1 ms net hit reaction time vs placebo after 17 h awake (95% CI 13.5 to 62.7 ms, n = 37). |
Faster on a flashing light is not the same as winning a gunfight.
Lab reaction time is easy to measure and rarely decisive on its own. NeuroFPS reports the millisecond data alongside the crosshair placement, anticipation and composure that often settle a round before any reaction begins.