National Survey Shows People with Epilepsy Get Inadequate Exercise

Epilepsy News From: Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Shifting Attitudes Towards Exercise and Epilepsy

It is well known that regular exercise has an important role in maintaining good physical health in both adults and children. Despite the known benefits of physical activity, people with epilepsy may limit their participation in sports due to fear that exercise may worsen seizures or result in injury. Formal studies, however, have demonstrated that for most people with epilepsy, exercise has no effect on or may decrease seizure frequency and that significant injuries are rare (J Pimental, 2015).

Furthermore, in people with epilepsy, regular exercise has been shown (J Pimental, 2015) to improve:

  • mood,
  • self-esteem,
  • psychosocial functioning, and
  • quality of life.

As a result of these findings, there has been a recent shift from a tradition of discouraging participation in sport by people with seizures to increasing advocacy for expanded participation in physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Adding Exercise to Your Seizure Management Plan

Despite progress in attitudes about exercise, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of over 27,000 community dwelling adults found people with epilepsy are still significantly less likely to engage in regular exercise (W Cui et al, 2015). Only one-third of respondents with active epilepsy (requiring medication or with seizure in the last year) met the recommended guideline for regular aerobic activity of 150 minutes/week of light to moderate intensity activity or 75 minutes/week of vigorous activity, compared to almost 50% of respondents without epilepsy. Less than 40% of those with active epilepsy participated in even minimal exercise consisting of a 10 minute walk in the week prior to the survey.

There is concern that people with epilepsy may still be discouraged from participating in many forms of physical activity by their doctor. However, one in three people with active epilepsy reported that a health professional recommended engaging in an exercise program in the last year, which was the same rate of counseling reported by people with inactive epilepsy and no epilepsy history. Optimally, all people with seizures, not just one-third, should receive a recommendation for appropriate physical activity.

People with epilepsy of all ages are encouraged to work with their health care provider to address any barriers to participation in sports and to develop a program of regular physical activity that is safe, enjoyable, and effective for them. Exercise should be considered as one component of the comprehensive management of their epilepsy.

References:

Pimental J, Tojal R, Morgado J. Epilepsy and physical exercise. Seizure (2015) 25: 87-94.

Cui W, Zack MM, Kobau R, Helmers SL. Health behaviors among people with epilepsy-results from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Epilepsy Behavior (2015) 44: 121-126.

Authored by

Katherine Noe MD, PhD

Reviewed Date

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

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