Where your DNA places you among other people, and the studies behind it.
Not tailored to your result, and not medical advice
Protect Against Head Injuries: Traumatic brain injury is a recognized cause of acquired epilepsy, with risk rising with injury severity. Wearing seatbelts, using helmets for cycling and contact sports, and taking fall-prevention measures help avoid the head injuries that can lead to post-traumatic epilepsy. PMC (review)
Prioritize Sleep Quality: Sleep deprivation is among the most commonly reported seizure triggers and is associated with increased epileptiform activity, though the evidence varies across studies. Keeping a consistent 7-9 hours of sleep, maintaining regular sleep-wake times, and avoiding all-nighters are sensible steps for people prone to seizures. Epilepsy Currents (review)
Be Cautious With Alcohol: Alcohol withdrawal, particularly after heavy or binge drinking, can lower the seizure threshold and provoke seizures. For people prone to seizures, moderating or avoiding alcohol - and avoiding abrupt withdrawal after heavy use - is advisable. Discuss alcohol use with a clinician, as it can also interact with antiseizure medicines. PMC (literature review)
Manage Stress: Stress is frequently reported as a seizure trigger, and studies link higher stress and cortisol levels with increased seizure frequency in some people with epilepsy, though a direct causal effect is not established. Regular exercise, adequate rest, and stress-reduction techniques are reasonable, low-risk strategies that support overall wellbeing. PMC (review)
Seek Early Evaluation for Seizure-like Episodes: If you experience episodes of altered awareness, involuntary movements, staring spells, or unusual sensory experiences, seek a neurological evaluation. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment can reduce injury and improve long-term outcomes. A polygenic score is not diagnostic and cannot tell you whether you have or will develop epilepsy. World Health Organization
How much of this is genetic?
Genetics explains 40% of why people differ in this trait. The rest is environment, daily habits and chance.
Heritability estimate: Speed et al. 2014, Brain
Background and further reading
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions, affecting around 50 million people worldwide [1]. It is defined by recurrent, unprovoked seizures caused by abnormal, excessively synchronous electrical discharges in the brain. Seizures are broadly grouped into focal-onset, which begin in one part of the brain, and generalized-onset, which involve both hemispheres; focal seizures are the more common type, accounting for roughly 60% of cases [3]. Epilepsy can begin at any age, with peak incidence in early childhood and again after age 60. The cause remains unknown in about half of cases [1]. With antiseizure medicines, up to 70% of people with epilepsy could become and remain seizure-free [1].
Genetic Basis: Genetics contributes more to the generalized epilepsies than to the focal epilepsies, and the two have notably different genetic architectures [4]. Rare, often single-gene (monogenic) epilepsies frequently involve ion-channel genes - SCN1A, the most commonly implicated epilepsy gene and the main cause of Dravet syndrome, along with others such as KCNQ2 and CACNA1A [2]. The common epilepsies are polygenic, with risk spread across many variants. The largest genome-wide study to date, from the ILAE Consortium, analyzed over 29,000 people with epilepsy and identified 26 risk loci, most of them specific to genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE), and implicated 29 likely causal genes [4]. Common variants explained roughly 40-90% of the genetic risk across GGE subtypes - far more than for focal epilepsy - and the implicated genes point to synaptic processes in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons [4]. An earlier ILAE analysis had identified 16 loci across the common epilepsies [3].
Environmental Factors: Many epilepsies arise from acquired brain changes rather than inherited risk: traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain tumors, central nervous system infections such as meningitis and encephalitis, and brain damage around birth [1]. Distinct from these underlying causes are seizure triggers - factors that can provoke a seizure in someone who already has epilepsy. Sleep deprivation is among the most commonly reported triggers and is associated with more frequent seizures and epileptiform activity, though the evidence is not uniform across studies [5]. Other commonly cited triggers include alcohol withdrawal, flickering lights in photosensitive individuals, stress, and intercurrent illness. In low- and middle-income countries, where most people with epilepsy live, infectious causes such as neurocysticercosis are comparatively more common [1].
The published research behind your score, and the variants it draws on.
2 published scores from 2 studies
The epilepsy score combines 2 polygenic scores drawn from 2 published studies.
World Health Organization. Epilepsy (fact sheet). World Health Organization (2024)
Malow BA. Sleep deprivation and epilepsy. Epilepsy Currents (2004)
These traits are influenced by some of the same genes and variants as this one
Content updated August 2026.
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