Epilepsy is a group of neurological diseases that cause various types of seizures due to the sudden and abnormal activation of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Epileptic episodes are categorized as diurnal or nocturnal in that they occur while awake or during sleep.
The exact etiology of nocturnal (sleep-related) epilepsy is not known. Sleep-related conditions may cause epilepsy in a patient or epilepsy caused by other reasons that may occur during sleep. On the other hand, regardless of the direction of this relationship, in patients with nocturnal epilepsy, both the disease itself and antiepileptic therapy agents can reduce the person’s sleep quality, which may further worsen the situation lowering the patient’s seizure threshold.