Studying biological sciences, a week does not
go by where exercises' many benefits are mentioned. Besides being a stress
reliever and preventative for future disease, running has interestingly been
shown to be helpful in managing epilepsy episodes. Ultra-marathoner and legend
Diane Van Deren's story shows just this. At the age of 28, Diane began to have
epileptic episodes that left her majorly debilitated. However, one day, she was
out for a walk when she sensed an episode coming on and began to start running.
The seizure never came; she had "outrun" the seizure. Soon, she took
off running anytime a seizure came leading to decreased seizures. Other studies
confirm this finding with lower numbers of episodes following aerobic training
and inactivity of seizures during exercise.
What are the mechanisms at play? One idea is
the epileptiform discharge (the abnormal EEG patterns associated with seizures)
are reduced with hyperventilation. Another is that intense exercise releases
lactic acid which increases GABA and slows the electric signals. Still another
suggests that the hyper-focus and attention during exercise diverts the
seizures. From a neurochemical standpoint, the neuropeptide galanin which is
highly associated with norepinephrine and exercise specifically seems to be an
antagonist for seizures. These all still being explored.
Unfortunately for Diane, her seizures came back. Her doctors suggested a lobectomy of source of seizures, and she decided to go through with it. While risky, it was this surgury that makes her the ultra-running champion she is. The surgury removed a kiwi-sized portion of the temporal lobe which is key for short-term memory, time management, and spatial memory. While this removal impacted Diane's day-to-day life, she did not have another seizure. This limitation to her awareness of time is also suspected to give her an edge in ultra-running. The passion that started to prevent seizures soon evolved to make her a phenomenal competitor. With reduced awareness to space and time, Diane has managed to win many ultramarathons. Running for 24 hours+ is common for her. Rather than focusing on how tired she should be, Diane is able to focus on the task at hand. Perhaps most impressive is her win of the 430-mile Yukon Artic Ultra which takes place non-stop in the frozen tundra of Yukon with -30 degree temps and 7 hours of daylight each day over 7 days. While we all don’t need to run ultramarathons or get lobectomies, Diane’s ability is a good reminder of how being present can allow for greater endurance. And though you’ve heard it a thousand times, we all need to exercise even if we don’t’ have epilepsy.
https://www.espn.com/espnw/features/story/_/id/6495356/diane-van-deren-goes-distance
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925443920303276
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/running-from-the-seizures/383123/
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/122291-in-running
Great read Kathleen! This is amazing, I love reading inspiring stories of people and what we could achieve if we put our mind to it. I recently met Jason Romero, a fellow Coloradan and an author of his book "Running into the Dark." I read the book and learned about his struggles with blindness and running across America. He was born with normal vision, but it slowly deteriorate. He did not let that impact his life goals, so he put himself through law school with tunnel vision. He became a successful lawyer and lived in many countries and served in their board. He decided he wanted to run across America inspired by his step father while being blind. You can read more about his struggles on his book, but he completed his mission and became the first blind person to run across America on his foot. He still hold the faster cross country blind runner in America. This just goes to show what you could achieve if you truly put your mind into something.
ReplyDeleteHey Kathleen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. This was so interesting! I was curious to know if running was the best form of exercise done to decrease seizures. I found a study that had participants complete different variations of workouts that included a warm up, aerobic training, strength training, and stretching exercises. These researchers found that exercise helped to reduce seizure frequency. Out of 10 people in the exercise group, seven had experienced seizures before intervention and only one reported them during intervention. Also, these participants showed increased cardiorespiratory fitness, reduced stress levels and improved quality of life. So, it seems like in an attempt to prevent seizures, all exercise (not just running) is beneficial! This is encouraging as many people may be incapable of running for long periods of time and another form of exercise could be more suitable.
Häfele, C. A., Rombaldi, A. J., Feter, N., Häfele, V., Gervini, B. L., Domingues, M. R., & da Silva, M. C. (2021). Effects of an exercise program on health of people with epilepsy: A randomized clinical trial. Epilepsy & Behavior, 117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107904