Can sleep deprivation trigger a seizure?
Insufficient or fragmented sleep can trigger seizures in some people with epilepsy, and may provoke a seizure in susceptible individuals with no prior history of seizure. Indeed, some people suffer their only seizure in life after doing an all-nighter at college or after a prolonged period of poor sleep associated with a major life stressor. For some persons with epilepsy, lack of proper sleep can increase their chances of having a seizure, or even increase the intensity and duration of a seizure. Please click here for more on Epilepsy and Sleep.
Insufficient sleep or any problems that disrupts sleep can trigger a seizure. Indeed, some people suffer their only seizure in life after doing an “all-nighter” at college or after a prolonged period of poor sleep associated with a major life stressor. For persons with epilepsy, lack of proper sleep can increase their chances of having a seizure, or even increase the intensity and duration of a seizure. Physicians use sleep deprivation, by asking persons with suspected epilepsy to stay up all night before having an EEG, to “activate the brain” and make it more likely that abnormal brain electrical activity will be revealed. Sleep deprivation also makes it more likely that the patient will fall asleep during the EEG, increasing the chances of recording certain electrical abnormalities enhanced by sleep. We do not know why sleep deprivation provokes seizures. The sleep-wake cycle is associated with prominent changes in brain electrical activity and hormonal activity, so seizures and the
