Study supports link between stress, epileptic seizures

Study supports link between stress, epileptic seizures.

Scientists have long thought that stress plays a role in epileptic seizures, and new evidence suggests that epilepsy patients who believe this is the case experience a different brain response when faced with a nerve-wracking situation. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati performed functional MRI brain scans during a stressful math exercise on 16 epilepsy patients who pegged stress as a factor in their seizure control and seven patients who did not. While both groups performed similarly on the test, those who perceived stress to have an impact on their epilepsy showed greater brain activation than the others during intimidating parts of the test impacting their overall brain fitness.