7 Reasons your overall health affects your seizures

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7 Reasons your overall health affects your seizures

Jo Knight • December 28, 2020

7 reasons your overall health affects your seizures

When you live with seizures you will be familiar with your local neurology department. Because seizures are a disorder of the nervous system. However, all the other parts of your body, and the health of those areas, will also affect how your nervous system works. Here's 7 reasons why...

1: Stress

Whatever challenge we face with our health, stress tends to make any health condition worse. With seizures it is a known factor in worsening seizure patterns, and you probably already know that your seizures are worse when you haven't slept or eaten properly.

2: Hormones

For women living with seizures hormonal changes throughout the month not only create mood changes but also can influence seizure risk. For those who experience a dramatic effect of this, they may be diagnosed with catamenial epilepsy. For others, they will still experience some level of the change in brain chemicals that are linked to hormone changes.

3: Immune health

When we have a sluggish immune system we end up with lots of colds and infections, which can put an added stress on our bodies and nutrient requirements. Or we can be the other way and have an over-reactive immune system (e.g. hay-fever, which increases fatigue, brain fog and concentration problems), when inflammation levels increase and our body's and brains don't work as well.

4: Energy levels

How stable our energy levels are also affects how stable the energy supply going to our brain is, and whether our brain can function optimally. They even affect the levels of electrolytes in our blood, and therefore how excitable our nerves and muscles get.

5: Our toxin levels

We all get warned about the risk of alcohol and drugs, and in part this is because these toxins can influence how our cells are working and whether our brain can function normally. Even those not living with seizures are still subject to these effects, unfortunately those living with seizures may be at increased risk.

6: You are what you eat

We have to be eating, digesting and absorbing the nutrients our body's need, in order for our health to function optimally. And what we need can vary depending on our genetics, injuries, or stress levels. Our digestive system not only accumulates the nutrients we need but is also about 70% of our immune defence.

7: Everything is connected

Just like a cog in a machine, our brains are only part of the complex systems that make up how our body works as a whole. You need all the cogs working well and together for a great functioning machine.

Want to know more about improving your overall health to support your seizure health, then explore our free guide to 3 Easy things women living with seizures can change today.

3 Easy things you can change today

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