What does it mean for a brain to have a seizure threshold, and what lowers it? · Grey Matter

The threshold is how hard a brain has to be pushed before excitation outruns inhibition and a seizure starts, so it is the excitation-inhibition balance seen from the side of its failure.

What does it mean for a brain to have a seizure threshold, and what lowers it?

The threshold is how hard a brain has to be pushed before excitation outruns inhibition and a seizure starts, so it is the excitation-inhibition balance seen from the side of its failure. Lasting causes lower it, such as mutations in ion channels, lost interneurons or a scar after injury, and that lasting lowering is what epilepsy means. Temporary triggers lower it for hours or days: sleep deprivation, fever, alcohol withdrawal, low blood sugar or sodium, and some medicines, and in diary studies of people with epilepsy, less sleep and more stress were each followed by more seizures.