Matters of the mind

Issue 844
Matters of the mind

With 400,000 sufferers in the UK Epilepsy is the country’s most common brain disorder. Liz Stauber finds out more

There are more than 100 billion nerve cells in the brain which are used to communicate with one another; some encourage others to send follow up messages (excitation), while others tend to block them (inhibition).

A balance is needed to ensure that the brain works correctly. If there are too many nerve cells sending messages at once without enough being blocked it can lead to what can be described as an electrical storm – or in other words, a seizure.

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