The people with epilepsyhave no reason to be on the bench when it comes to sports. On the contrary, physical activity should be seen more as an additional string to the therapeutic bow. This was recalled by the Epilepsie France association, on the occasion of International Epilepsy Day on Monday February 8.
Michèle Vidal is a physical activity teacher specializing in the sports education of epileptic patients at the center for the fight against epilepsy at La Teppe, near Valence (Drôme). Her experience in the field has convinced her of the anti-epileptic effect of sport on the patients she accompanies. “For the moment, few scientific studies validate the benefits of sport for the epileptic patient, but in the field, we observe a real reduction in the frequency and intensity of seizures during practice”, he explains. her to AFP.
By a complex mechanism, sport would arrive in the brain to prevent the short circuits at the origin of epileptic seizures, these discharges of abnormal nerve impulses. “There are fewer seizures, often they are less severe. And in some patients, this will improve the disorders that will accompany epilepsy: anxiety, depression, sleep disorders…”, judges for his part Dr. Gilles Huberfeld, neurologist at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, interviewed by Francetvinfo.
A medical opinion before starting
The benefits of sport on patients would be multiple. The well-being felt would reduce stress, fear and anxiety, risk factors for epileptic seizures. But patients would gain in confidence, feeling less stigmatized because of the disease.
Before starting a sport, it is advisable to seek medical advice which will direct you to the least risky activities when you are epileptic. Activities such as rock climbing, mountaineering and scuba diving are to be avoided, for example. And more generally any practice must be supervised by a professional.
In France, epilepsy affects nearly 500,000 people.
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