Quality sleep is a vital part of a healthy body and life. If you’ve ever pulled an all-nighter, have a newborn baby that has kept you up, or stayed up to binge-watch your favourite show, you know how missing a few hours of sleep can affect your function the next day.
Missing a few hours of sleep will have an average everyday individual reaching for an extra cup of coffee or sneaking in an afternoon nap. Sleep deprivation can severely impact the quality of an individual's life, however, in patients with epilepsy, losing sleep can affect energy levels and seizure activity for some.
Can you sleep after having a seizure?
With those who suffer from epilepsy, sleep deprivation can have life-changing effects on the quality of life – including mood disorder and the severity and frequency of seizures.
You may be surprised to learn that sleep and seizure frequency and severity are closely related but it is the relationship between the electrical activity in the brain during the sleep-wake cycle that can trigger or suppress seizures.
Most types of seizures are affected by sleep but may vary from patient to patient. This can also be caused by:
Hormonal changes during sleep
The effects of seizures and seizure medicines on the quality of sleep
Potential causes of sleep disturbance in patients with epilepsy can be divided into three groups:
Effects of epilepsy on sleep
Effects of medication on sleep
The presence of a sleep disorder
Alongside managing a multitude of symptoms individuals with epilepsy also experience a wide range of sleep disorders including things like obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, and idiopathic hypersomnia. These conditions greatly affect their quality of sleep and often individuals with epilepsy experience chronic fatigue or excessive daytime sleepiness.
Does epilepsy make you tired?
On top of sleep deprivation, epilepsy can feel consuming at times. Seizures are intense and can be quite overwhelming for the body and mind which affect someone both mentally and physically.
While everyone can experience fatigue occasionally, individuals who have epilepsy are more likely to experience heightened or frequent feelings of weakness, tiredness, and exhaustion than others.
In some cases, people with epilepsy may experience anxiety or depression. If you are experiencing symptoms of depression this can increase your feelings of fatigue and tiredness because it may feel harder to keep motivated and focused resulting in more difficulty completing daily tasks.
Sleep deprivation is the cause of many cognitive and emotional stressors in individuals with epilepsy including:
Increase number of seizures
Slowed thinking
Reduced attention span
Corroding memory
Lack of energy
Mood disorders including depression and anxiety
If this is the suspect of daytime sleepiness or sleep disturbance is due to Anti-Epileptic drugs (AED), removing sedative drugs from a patient's regimen may help ease the symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness and swapping them with less sedating medication such as lamotrigine may be helpful.
There are many new and modern ways that medication can help patients with epilepsy manage their sleepiness alongside treating their seizures.
Not only does treating a patient with epilepsy with a sleep disorder significantly improve their quality of life, but it also helps to control the frequency and severity of their seizures.
Resolving sleep cycles in individuals with epilepsy can help decrease stress responsivity, increase cognition function and memory problems, enhance daily performance deficits, manage emotional distress and mood disorders, and help with the frequency and severity of their seizures.
Final Thoughts
For a number of reasons, dealing with epilepsy often leaves individuals managing chronic fatigue with the extra responsibility of learning to manage their sleep cycle, as a necessary part of the healing journey.
Speaking with a counsellor may help you manage these symptoms, along with assisting in dealing with the many other lifestyles, and emotional changes that go hand-in-hand with epilepsy.
We specialize in helping individuals face the stigmas, day-to-day lifestyle changes and help them manage the stress and shame associated with this condition.
If you are having trouble understanding or dealing with your epilepsy, or are looking for an epilepsy counsellor, contact us today, and we’ll be happy to help you find a way through treatment by finding healthy strategies to manage your life.
