How to Build a Supportive Daily Routine with Epilepsy

How to Build a Supportive Daily Routine with Epilepsy

Suppose you are like me and live with epilepsy. You know it is hard and trying to have a basic peaceful day-to-day life is challenging. But in this article, I am going over how to build a supportive daily routine with epilepsy.

A daily routine can make life a little easier and with a routine can help with, basic health, the ability to have healthy and peaceful sleep, and can help with identifying triggers of seizures, we are going over 6 key elements:

• Prioritizing Sleep Hygiene
• Balanced Nutrition and Hydration
• Medication Management
• Incorporating Stress-Reduction Techniques
• Physical Activity
• Screen Time and Technology Use

UNDERSTANDING EPILEPSY AND THE ROLE OF DAILY ROUTINES

If you are new to epilepsy, here is a quick brief on epilepsy: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder. That can cause a person to have seizures. There are many possible causes of epilepsy, from genetics to brain damage, etc.  Out of the seizures, there are two basic types:

• Generalized seizures

Affect both sides of the brain, causing you to shake on one or both sides of your body, muscles lock up, and stare. This can most likely start in childhood

• Focal Seizures

: These happen in one part of the brain, usually affecting only one side of the body. This may affect awareness, and you can have lip-smacking, tightening of an arm, or repetitive movement.

A routine can help reduce triggers, possibly improve the time taken to recover from seizures, create stability in life, and improve overall well-being.

KEY ELEMENTS OF A SUPPORTIVE DAILY ROUTINE

Prioritizing sleep Hygiene:

Sleep deprivation is a common cause of epileptic seizures. Regular sleep timing, 1 hour without blue screens (tablets, laptops, smartphones, etc.) before going to bed, 7-8 hours of sleep, and a cool, dark bedroom can all help prevent seizures or lower the intensity and frequency of them.

Balancing nutrients and hydration:

Foods like beans, yogurt, cheese, fish, apples, berries, and whole-grain bread can help with seizures. Avoid dehydration, which can cause some seizures, and avoid foods and drinks such as caffeinated products like coffee, pop (soda), and some teas, alcohol can mutate how effective your medicine is so avoid beers and liquor or limit how much you drink per night, be careful with grapefruit it to can set you at a disadvantage of how effective medicine will be.

Medication Management:

this is my biggest weakness. Taking medicine at a set time every day is a big plus. Mine is supposed to be every 12 hours, but remembering to bring it to events (social outings, night shift work) is my problem. Creating a routine of taking your medicine can be enormous in positivity.  Setting things up to remind you of your medicine is a great idea.

For me, I have 3 alarms on my phone morning and night. This is to help me take my medicine in a set hour. My doctors always say to take your medicine within the hour before your set time or one hour after your set time at least but try to take it at a set time.

I know some people are stuck with three times a day or more and as needed but still sticking to a set time is an advantage. Also setting reminders like sticking notes on the mirror of the bathroom or by your kitchen cabinet where you get breakfast or other morning things helps, also setting reminders on the calendar of your phone or wall calendar is good.

Stress reduction techniques:

stress can be a big trigger to seizures. I was once having small second-long seizures (what I called flash seizures) multiple times a day, causing stress, which triggered more seizures. Things like yoga, meditation, deep breathing, and morning and night prayers can all be helpful in stress reduction.

Another key thing to do to help with stress is a mindfulness technique called radical acceptance. This is acceptance of this point in life, like it or not knowing you can still change your situation in the future. On YouTube, many videos cover this subject. Here are a few links:

• Kati Morton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyH1JLZcVR8
• Lavadaire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML7WertToVE
• Dr. Linehan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTG7YEWkJFI

Physical Activity:

Doing physical activities and exercising can help with stress reduction. The article The Mental Health Benefits of Exercising goes over how cardio exercises can help with anxiety and how intense exercise (weightlifting, resistance training) helps with depression. But those techniques can help with epilepsy too.

Walking, running, cycling and other cardio exercises can help with the reduction of stress and stress is on top of the list of causes of seizures. Exercising can also help with sleep and good sleep is a key element in dealing with seizures and a tool for possible reduction of seizures.

Screen time and technology use:

in the article Can Light Trigger Seizures? Guide to photosensitivity epilepsy It points out flashing lights, screen time on laptops or phones, and playing video games for some people can trigger seizures and screen time can affect good sleep.

For video games I play them but with full room lights on. I also have a limited amount of time I spend on my PlayStation per session. At the same time, I do the full lights on when I watch any movies or TV. I notice flashing lights as triggers for me because I saw a raw rapid flashing Halloween light at a friend’s house one year which almost immediately caused a seizure.

Movie theaters are still okay but beware of movies that have seizure warnings depending on how sensitive you are. I wanted to see the Incredibles 2 but noticed a warning of a rapid light scene in the movie.

Beware of concerts, I once bought Godsmack tickets without researching on Google. When I researched on google the first article was a warning article about flashing lights at the concert being triggers. Always do your research first.

.  It helps with one hour before bed screen-free can help with your ability to have a good night’s sleep which again helps with the reduction of seizures or how severe they may be. Things that help with this can be controls on your phone that control how long you use apps per day or timers on how long the phone be used straight or for the full day.

CREATING AND MANDATING A ROUTINE

 Creating a routine may seem difficult but it is possible. Here are 6 key routines to set up and key things to remember when it comes to achieving goals.

1. 30-day daily consistency of a routine can in bed the routine as a habit.
2. Setting up one technique at a time makes it more achievable (in one year that can be twelve routines turned into habits)
3. Setting up reminders and timers helps build the daily schedule and routine into your mind.
4. Remember that not following your routine one time does not mean you failed. Start setting up the routine over again.
5. Getting up and trying again shows strength and determination.

Achieving Goals is done with resilience. You fail more than you will succeed. But when you succeed it is worth the struggle

SUPPORT NETWORK

To achieve a healthy daily routine, you may need help, from family, friends, or providers. They can help with the push to achieve the goal and with the support if needed to achieve the goal, such as text reminders to take medicine, joining you on your walks or at the gym, and texting you positive quotes to keep you moving forward.

Family and friends are good for all of that and more but remind yourself they have a life too and have family to take care of themselves. Having your insurance provide you with a service is not bad.

Services can help with your personal goals, living healthier, self-care, and much more. In the US the services and providers vary state by state, insurance company by insurance company, and goals you can set go service provider by service provider. Cost varies depending on the insurance provider you use.

ADOPTING ROUTINE OVER TIME

With a routine also beware of changing your daily routine because of events and situations in life. If you take your medicine every day at 7 am normally but now have a nighttime job and need to sleep in more. You can change the time of medicine to better fit your schedule.

 It is said it may take a day or two but if you need medicine to go from 7 am to 10 am instead then you need to adjust the time of medicine by one hour each of the next 3 days. And you will again have to do the 30-day routine building.

When changing the routine remember to stay resilient, determined, and moving forward with your goal. Remind yourself of all 6 key elements of setting up routines and achieving goals. Trial and error are key learning elements in life, recovery, and dealing with epilepsy.

TOOLS AND RESOURCES FOR EPILEPSY MANAGEMENT

Tools to use to achieve a day-to-day routine can be

Daily planning apps:

Google Calendar is my favorite

Daily scheduling

Magnetic Dry Eraser Weekly Planner: https://amzn.to/4fFvSVk

Polegas Magnetic dry easer calendar: https://amzn.to/3OnHKPN

Phone alarms set for the specific activity using special sounds:

The Zedge app is my favorite

Alarms on your watch or health wrist device:

Smart ring health tracker: https://amzn.to/3AYhZSZ

WHOOP 4 wrist fitness tracker: https://amzn.to/4eGVeAN

Fitbit Charge 6: https://amzn.to/40YSs6M

Medical Guard Alert Necklace: https://amzn.to/3V43806

Alarms on your Phone:

Google Pixel 9 Pro: https://amzn.to/490qMAt

iPhone 12: https://amzn.to/3Ziwpqw

Clocks that have hourly sounds to keep better track of time.:

Amazon Echo Spot: https://amzn.to/412p8wo

JALL 16” Digital Wall Clock: https://amzn.to/3CDZfZv

WALLARGE Atomic Digital Clock: https://amzn.to/3ZmWeWx

For more support on reaching goals and moving forward, some books and guides are beneficial.

 Bad Habits by John Tracy: https://amzn.to/3V4NnWI

Unf*ck Yourself by Gary bishop: https://amzn.to/3CT1YhC

Atomic Habits by James Clear: https://amzn.to/3Zjw5Yo

With all of the tools and knowledge, you can achieve healthy daily routines that can help with your epilepsy. It just takes time and determination. It is achievable by everyone and my personal key thing to remember while setting things up and achieving goals is number 6 of the key elements of routines, Achieving Goals is done with resilience. You fail more than you will succeed. But when you succeed it is worth the struggle.

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(This article is an informational and personal experience article only. If you have any symptoms or questions related to your health, talk to your neurologist, nurse, or local doctor first.)