Originally Posted by
urbanknight
I had actually figured that there might be an advantage to that, allowing you enough time to assume a better position. Not that you would come out unscathed, but it might reduce the injuries if you were able to decide if you needed to tuck or throw some part of your body first or something. Or is it still only enough time to think "oh $hit" but not enough time to react?
Our conscious (awake) mind can process anywhere from 18-30 thoughts per second... which is more than enough to contemplate the consequences of a fall during sustained "hang-time". However the ability for our physical body to react to those thoughts is not fast enough to assume a "damage mitigating" position.