The ultimate morning routine for people with epilepsy

If you have epilepsy or are trying to help a loved one with epilepsy this is a great article for you. We are going over the ultimate morning routines for people with epilepsy. It is obvious that an epilepsy-friendly morning routine is a must.

But let’s go over epilepsy itself. Epilepsy has two types: generalized seizures which affect the whole brain or focal seizures which affect specific parts of the brain. Common symptoms of generalized seizures are

• Tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal) with muscle stiffness, jerking of the body, and confusion and tiredness afterward.
• Absence seizures Cause short sudden lapses of consciousness, like staring into space, blinking of the eye quickly, and chewing and hand movements

The common symptoms of focal seizure:

• Motor symptoms: muscle jerking movements of the face arm or other body parts
• Sensory symptoms: Hallucinations, hearing problems, and changes in smell, taste, and touch
• Automatic symptoms: changes in blood pressure, heart rhythm, or bowel and bladder function
• Psychic symptoms: fear, anxiety and déjà vu
• Other symptoms: starring spells eye moving back and forth, abdominal pain and discomfort, nausea, speech problems, blackout spells (which I used to have a lot after having my surgery), and much more.

Starting your day calm and with wellness tools ready is essential for people with epilepsy setting up an epilepsy-friendly morning routine or anyone else trying to have better days too. Reducing stress and having a healthy daily routine are great tools for having better days living with epilepsy.

Reducing morning stress, better sleep, mindfulness, exercises, and having a schedule for taking your medicine are all covered in this article and much more. So, let’s get started.

Understanding your body’s needs

Besides misuse or missing medicine, the top cause of seizures is lack of sleep. Poor sleep, lack of sleep, not sleeping well, or being overall tired are possible triggers for seizures. Getting good sleep is a great way to try to help with the frequency of seizures and the overall strength of a seizure.

After a good night’s sleep, there are your morning drinks and food. I like to have a good drink, just like I do because of my transplant. Water is a great drink. According to the epilepsy foundation, dehydration can be a real trigger for a seizure.

But if you like to taste something in the morning, herbal teas are good because most herbal teas are caffeine-free. After a good drink in the morning, now comes breakfast.

A good breakfast can help with epilepsy the Healthline website points out that things like

• Berry’s
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Apples
• Whole grain bread
• Non-starch vegetables (broccoli or leafy greens)
• Beans

Can all help with epilepsy but you must be careful with foods like

• High sugar and salt foods
• Highly Processed foods
• Caffeine drinks like coffee, tea, and energy drinks (which are triggers for me)
• Alcohol (which I have quit drinking for decades because of it being a trigger)
• And sadly in mind, Chocolate

Certain diets may help with seizures like the keto diet which is researched to help children and new studies find it to help teenagers and adults too.

Creating a low-stress environment

When creating a low-stress environment in the morning, reducing tasks like what clothes to wear and what meal to have for breakfast a beyond for the day can help. The best way is to have them planned out and ready the night before. This can help you focus more on other morning tasks and not be in such a hurry if you have work, doctor appointments, or other events to go to.

You can also plan out meals for the next couple of days or the whole week to help with what you spend on groceries and what you eat for the week when it comes to dieting. The website Eatingwell covers multiple diets and foods that can help with planning meals and weight loss if needed.

The next thing that might help you is meditation and mindfulness. This helps reduce stress which is the second biggest trigger for seizures. Mediation and mindfulness are great ways to start the day. There are multiple YouTube videos for beginning meditation along with yoga being a tool.

Ten-minute yoga routine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41mYCmtWls

Ten-minute meditation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9YKY7fdwyg

For more information check out the Andrew Huberman video on YouTube that goes through how meditation works and the science-based effective medications:

In the article, top stress relief products for epilepsy management cover all sorts of tools, products, and resources that help with stress. Yoga is a key thing along with products like sound-canceling headsets, weight blankets, and essential oil diffuse.

Another key way is gratitude journaling. This can be done three times a week for around 15 minutes each. You cover 5 or more positive things you are grateful for. Be specific on the subject, go into detail about the event, thing, or person, and be personal about what you write. This all can help with calming your body which again helps with stress reduction and frequency.

Physical activities but Gentle

For the morning routine exercise is a plus. Things like yoga, walks, and stretching can all be positive for people with epilepsy. Exercise is also healthy for your mental health. The article The Mental Health Benefits of Exercise goes over how exercise helps with depression and anxiety.

There is another article on how your mental health affects your physical health and ways to improve it. It points out how staying calm and controlling stress, depression, and anxiety is a must to keep your physical health at its best. That includes your neurological health which is the key source of your seizures.

New studies have found that your physical health, mental health, and neurological health are all connected. For more information check out books like The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, which covers how mental health trauma can affect the body in so many ways.

Some signs that exercising is done for the day or the next couple of days. The most common signs are

• Nauseous
• Lightheaded
• Feel faint
• Feeling generally unwell

All these are clear signs of too much physical activity or too intense of exercise.

Medication Routine

Having reminders for taking your medication is a good choice. I have three alarms every morning and night. One at the beginning of the hour, one middle, and one at the last of the hour to remind myself of the medicine.

 Applying your medication to another morning routine is a good idea to help make it more consistent and easier to remember over time. The article How to Build a Supportive Daily Routine with Epilepsy points out that if you do something for 20 to 30 days consistently you can turn that into a habit that makes it much easier to remember and follow through with.

There are free apps like:

• MediSafe
• Everydose
• Mytherapypillremidner

To help remind you of taking medication besides just your phone alarms. I personally have to change my phone ringtone every couple of months because I get so used to the sound that I start ignoring or not noticing it if I am sleeping in bed still.

Also avoiding doing key things related to triggers when taking medication like drinking caffeine drinks or other normal triggers makes it better to remember, instead of it being forgotten if you have a seizure and are in recovery.

Technology and tools supporting morning routines

• Smart alarm clocks can help with morning routine with softer but consistent alarms for waking up and going to bed, turning on lights, sleep sounds, and music to help sleep or wake up:
  • Hatch restore 2: https://amzn.to/4fYySMC

• Smart watches can help with keeping track of sleep trackers, heart rate monitors, crash detection, exercise recording and monitoring, and much more.
  • Apple watch SE (2^nd Gen): https://amzn.to/49oJ3HT
  • FITVII Health and Fitness Tracker: https://amzn.to/3VsaJFY

Building a Support Network

Sharing your morning routine with loved ones, your roommates, and service staff. This can help you stick to the routine more and help with positive reinforcement of your goal achieving and determination.

Setting boundaries for yourself on starting a calm day. I have personal problems with setting personal boundaries. That is setting up your time to fit your goals first instead of someone else’s goals.

You can have good help with setting up online communities that might understand your goals and situations more than most people. I talk to an online community in the gaming environment that is supportive and helps me release my stress energy. There are online support groups you can find on Facebook, X, and other social media platforms.

But be aware of some communities, even though trying to be a positive community can end up being a majority of negative posts. You can help others but if you start feeling down or have negative thoughts because of the environment of the community, take time away from the community or leave the community.

Adjusting your routine for bad days

When you have seizures, they can change your morning and day routine. In the article Managing Personal Care After Seizures, there is information on how you can still have a basic routine set for the aftermath of seizures. This can be things like easier-to-cook foods, relaxing music, eating certain foods, using wellness tools, like stress brackets, and scents, and cuddling with loved ones (people and pets) can all help in the aftermath.

Another key thing to remember is not to feel guilty for having a seizure or having to stick to a basic morning and daily routine. Habits and routines are regular human traits in behavior. You can do everything possible to control your seizures but they might still be out of control. My grand mal seizures were random and out of control and all I could do was avoid certain triggers and work with my doctors to try to improve my health.

Epilepsy-friendly morning routines are a must when it comes to improving the day and helping with the frequency and full effect of your seizures.

If you have personal experience with a morning routine that helps with your seizures leave a comment.

FAQ

What if I feel groggy in the morning?

          The best choice I make is to follow my wellness plan or after-seizure plan.

Can I include coffee in my morning routine?

          I only drink decaffeinated or caffeine-free drinks because caffeine is a possible trigger of seizures.

(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.)