🧠⚕️💜💊"Epilepsy and the use of screens"

_{Hello Everyone👋🏽.
This is @alli001 from #Nigeria🇳🇬.}

Edited on Canva.

In today's digital age, digital screens are part of our daily lives. With this connection, a lot of people spend a significant portion of their day on screens, while some individuals devote their entire day on screen-based activities, not knowing that this can put them at risk of adverse effects.". What adverse effects? Don't be surprised when I say that prolonged exposure to digital screen may be a potential trigger for epilepsy.

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Since It's a new week to stay healthy, in this contest organized by @aaliarubab, I'll discuss the possible connection between digital screens and epilepsy, the causes, types of epilepsy, signs and symptoms, and at last the preventive measures we should take to reduce its risks.

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First of all, let's get to know about epilepsy. A situation where our brain condition seizes suddenly, is called Epilepsy. These seizures happen when the brain's electrical activity changes suddenly, and they can repeatedly happen without our notice. What's the possible connection between digital screen and epilepsy?

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Excessive digital screen time has a significant link to epilepsy, particularly in triggering photosensitive and absence epilepsy. Prolonged exposure to screens can induce seizures in individuals with these conditions, making responsible screen use crucial for mitigating risks. High brightness and contrast settings on phone screens can trigger photosensitive epilepsy in susceptible individuals.

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Also, digital devices with faulty screens displaying abnormal patterns can also induce seizures. Using devices with compromised screens or extreme display settings can pose a significant risk for those with photosensitive epilepsy.

Bad ❌	Good ✅

The two screenshots illustrate the importance of optimal display settings in preventing photosensitive epilepsy triggers. The first screenshot, labelled 'bad❌', shows a screen with excessively high brightness and contrast settings, which can potentially trigger seizures in susceptible individuals. In contrast, the second screenshot, labelled 'good✅', displays a screen with normal brightness and contrast levels, posing a significantly lower risk of triggering epilepsy.

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We're thankful for technological advancements, as many modern devices now offer dark mode features. This feature has been a game-changer for me, as I've been using it on my smartphone and laptop to minimize the risk of photosensitive and absence epilepsy triggers. The dark mode setting has been a valuable tool in helping me manage my condition and reduce the likelihood of seizures.

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Besides screen use, stress is another problem that can trigger epilepsy. Prolonged high-stress levels can overrule the brain, being a problem to its electrical balance. When stress becomes too much for the brain to handle, it can cause an electrical imbalance, triggering a seizure.

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Most individuals may start developing epilepsy gradually but they have no clue about it. Some of the signs and symptoms of epilepsy are headaches, fatigue, convulsions, loss of consciousness, change of mood etc. When we see signs like this, it's advisable we visit our doctor for medical checkup.

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"Prevention is better than cure", they say. You can prevent epilepsy by applying effective stress management techniques, such as meditation, yoga, adequate sleep and deep breathing, are essential for reducing the risk of stress-induced seizures. In terms of digital screen usage, you can prevent and reduce epilepsy risk by adjusting settings, especially the brightness of our phone, using dark mode as shown in the screenshots earlier, and take a break when on the screen.

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In conclusion, maintaining good health is vital to our overall well-being, and it's essential to prioritize self-care. As such, we should avoid over stressing ourselves and ignore activities that could potentially harm us, including excessive screen time. Spending too much time on our smartphone and laptop can have detrimental effects on our physical and mental health, so it's crucial to strike a balance and set boundaries.

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I'd like to invite @josepha @okere-blessing and @nsijoro to participate in this contest.

◦•●◉✿Thank You✿◉●•◦