Unfortunately, life is a process of deterioration over time. That's just how it is. I doubt much can be done about it.

Damn, I was thinking the same.
I've never been a great gamer, but my reaction times are soo slow now.
It's like my mental FPS cannot match fast events anymore T_T

And currently I wanted to attempt the Path of Pain in Hollow Knight.. how lol.

I trained with Cheat Engine, bringing the speed up as I got better, until I could beat Super Hexagon at full speed.

There is not much you can do about it. Physical and mental decline with age is inevitable. Exercise may help maintain what you have a little longer, but it's still going to be uphill battle if you are trying compete with younger people.

I remember being quite good at MK2, Killer instinct and other fighting games. Other than not really standing them right now, i may still do an okay job but i guarantee i do poorly speed and play-wise.

Though against a friend i was still able to figure out Cage's split and ball breaker move and do that til i knocked him out...

Practice, a lot of practice, reflex are like a muscle, the more you train the more they increas, I could recommend OSU! (https://osu.ppy.sh/home) is a really good rhythmic game, very fast paced but you can start slow and scalling the difficult more and more when your reflexes increase!!!
PROS:
- It's free
- A lot of good music and maps from the community

CONS:
- If you don't like anime music, you won't have so much to play.

Hope it help you!!!

While I'm not a good player by means, I'm better at fighting games now than when I was in my teens. It mostly boiled down to learning to play smarter, and practicing against situations that gave me trouble. Having access to the internet later on helped as well, since the fighting game community has provided a wealth of information to help players improve.

Ups! Sorry, I posted twice :P

Is this the geriatric thread?

Naw. Thats over on mobygames.

Yes, by using it. Just look at this 72 year old guy that plays counter strike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biOk2JQ4uXw

Or "Skyrim Grandma", an 85 year old playing Skyrim:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzkY7wa8Ksxv4M5NyUYgTmA

102 year old drummer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQPZTN4ZjwQ

These Amazing Senior Citizen Record-Breakers Redefine 'Old'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_2eP_Zr93w

No, you can't reverse it or stop the degradation, however, worst thing you can do is stop doing something. If you do, it's only going faster.

Also fast walk and pumping for strength is proven scientifically to slow down aging. Just look at "Terminator" and "Rocky" among other :D

Take that mentality and throw it out the window. Artosis is 37, and Daigo is 39. They are both among the best in their respective gaming communities. Tony Hawk also did a Q&A. One of the questions was "I'm in my 50s, can I learn to skateboard?". His answer was "I'm 50, enough said".

Edit: It occurred to me that my reply might have come off as harsh. I apologize if it did, as that was not my intention.

Alot of advice, but none of it actually addresses the source, thus the solutions are, well...

If you're playing minecraft bedrock edition, would you like me to visit your world (or a temporary one for your safety) and address the issue personally? Odds are, the problems aren't what you think they are. I could go on some guesses (sped up videos seems to be a thing with the younger generation, for example, or a lack of familiarization), but it'd be far easier to work with you more directly. I'm 30, and I don't feel like the young whippersnappers have anything on me when it comes to reactions. Most seem to freeze in response to a creeper.

EDIT: if it actually is reaction speed degradation (which i find very unlikely), I would suggest familiarity in order to cause anticipation to offset the lack of reaction.

EDIT: To be clear about my assumptions, when i started boxing a few years ago i thought that my reaction time was the problem. I realized quickly after doing certain exercises for reaction times that the problem wasn't my reaction speed. I actually had fairly good reaction speed and was able to block jabs (proper jabs) from younger people (in their 20s!). The problem wasn't my reaction speed, but how i was approaching the problem: i was expecting to be able to think of something on the fly to deal with the said problem that i was reacting to. To think about it now, it seems obvious that was dumb of me, but sometimes we forget how illogical our plans really are, especially when we overestimate ourselves.

I noticed, too, when they say "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," the usual reason for this is closemindedness rather than aging. There's something to be said about the process of aging, but it's usually overestimated outside dementia. I've found from experience it happens even with people as young as in their teens. Always ends up being an excuse for why someone doesn't improve themselves. Usually when i Investigate further, I usually find that people aren't willing to change how they view certain things, and, even more so, are just plain too lazy to put time into learning something. I get this all the damn time with people "despirate to learn programming." The last one who wanted my help quit after 2 days, and if i ask him, he'll say he hasn't given up, but it's amazing how someone who says they're unemployed and no other obligations can get so busy so fast.

EDIT: if you want a good way of seeing someone's reaction speed, use youtube-dl on a streamer. Especially catch people playing fishing minigames on things like stardew valley: If you use ffmpeg and output the individual frames, you can count the frames of delay between the notification and their reaction. I've found people get really uncomfortable when you do that with them. XD

Training and training and training and training...
You actually lose reaction speed as you age but if you keep your body and mind trained you can make up for part of that process.