Can the Mozart Effect help reduce seizure frequency in children with epilepsy?

 The Mozart Effect suggests that listening to Mozart's music can have positive neurological benefits. Building upon this concept, our research investigates whether classical music can influence the EEG patterns of children with epilepsy. Through our web application, EpiMuse, we aim to provide personalized music therapy for epilepsy patients, leveraging machine learning to tailor interventions.

Collaborating with Neuropedia Dubai, we've examined the effects of classical music on the EEGs of pediatric epilepsy patients. Our findings contribute to understanding how music therapy can be integrated into clinical settings to support traditional treatments.

As someone who has personally navigated the challenges of epilepsy, I find it profoundly rewarding to contribute to initiatives that positively impact the lives of those living with the condition. Looking ahead, we are excited about the potential advancements in this field.

A special thank you to my mentor, Dr. Aman PS Sohal, for his unwavering support and guidance throughout this project. His expertise has been instrumental in our progress.

Why Downtime is Essential for Teen Brain Development

 In today’s fast-paced world, teenagers are constantly on the move—school, extracurricular activities, social media, and more. While staying busy may seem productive, it's crucial to understand the significance of downtime in fostering healthy brain development during adolescence.

The Teen Brain: A Work in Progress

Adolescence is a period of rapid brain development, particularly in areas responsible for decision-making, emotional regulation, and social interactions. However, this developmental phase also makes the brain more susceptible to stress and overstimulation. Continuous engagement without adequate rest can impede the brain's ability to process information and manage emotions effectively.

 The Power of Downtime

Downtime, often perceived as unproductive, plays a vital role in teen brain development. It allows the brain to enter a state of rest and recovery, facilitating essential processes such as memory consolidation and emotional regulation. During periods of inactivity, the brain engages in self-reflection and internal processing, which are critical for personal growth and mental well-being.

Benefits of Downtime for Teens

Enhanced Creativity and Problem-Solving Skills

Unstructured time encourages teens to engage in imaginative thinking and explore new ideas, leading to improved creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Improved Emotional Regulation

Downtime provides teens with the opportunity to process their emotions, leading to better emotional regulation and resilience in the face of challenges.

Strengthened Cognitive Functions

Rest periods are essential for memory consolidation and the strengthening of neural connections, enhancing learning and cognitive functions.

Better Social Interactions

When well-rested, teens are more likely to engage in positive social interactions, fostering healthier relationships and social skills.

Risks of Constant Activity

Constant engagement without sufficient downtime can lead to mental fatigue, increased stress levels, and a higher risk of developing anxiety and depression. It's essential to recognize the signs of burnout and encourage teens to take regular breaks to maintain their mental health.

Tips to Encourage Healthy Downtime

Limit Screen Time: Excessive screen time can overstimulate the brain. Encourage activities that promote relaxation and mental rest.

Promote Physical Activity: Regular physical exercise can help reduce stress and improve mood.

Encourage Hobbies: Support teens in pursuing hobbies that they enjoy and find fulfilling.

Foster Open Communication: Create an environment where teens feel comfortable discussing their feelings and experiences.

Dr. Sohal has served as a Consultant Pediatric Neurologist at renowned institutions, including Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi. His areas of expertise encompass epilepsy, cerebral palsy, ADHD, spasticity, autism, neurorehabilitation, and pediatric neurodisability. He is also proficient in pediatric EEG, nerve conduction studies, and electromyography.

Childhood Migraines: Expert Tips from Dr. Aman PS Sohal, Pediatric Neurologist in Dubai

 Headaches in children are worrying for any parent, especially when they become frequent or severe. While not every headache is a migraine, children often struggle to explain what they feel. As a trusted pediatric neurologist in Dubai, Dr. Aman PS Sohal helps families understand migraines in children and guides them with practical steps for relief and long-term management.

How to Recognize a Migraine in Children

Children with migraines may show signs such as:

• Throbbing or pounding pain, often on one side of the head

• Sensitivity to light or sound (preferring a dark, quiet room)

• Nausea, vomiting, or dizziness

• Tiredness and irritability

• Headaches lasting hours, sometimes worsened by physical activity

If you notice these patterns, it may be more than just a simple headache.

---

Common Triggers of Migraines in Children

Every child is unique, but some common migraine triggers include:

• Dehydration (not drinking enough water)

• Irregular sleep (too much or too little rest)

• Stress (school pressure, exams, big life changes)

• Skipping meals

• Certain foods (chocolate, strong cheese, processed meats)

• Prolonged screen time (eye and brain fatigue)

Identifying triggers can make it easier to manage and prevent future attacks.

---

How Parents Can Help at Home

Dr. Aman PS Sohal recommends simple lifestyle strategies that often bring real improvements:

✅ Keep a Headache Diary – Track when headaches occur, foods eaten, sleep, and activities to identify patterns.
✅ Stay Hydrated & Eat Regular Meals – Avoid skipping meals or letting your child’s water intake drop.
✅ Prioritize Healthy Sleep – Set consistent sleep routines, even on weekends.
✅ Limit Screen Time – Encourage screen breaks every 20–30 minutes.
✅ Create a Calm Rest Space – When a migraine strikes, a cool, quiet room helps recovery.

---

When to Seek Medical Help

While home remedies can ease occasional headaches, professional guidance is essential if:

• Headaches are frequent and disrupt school or daily life

• Pain is severe or different from usual

• There are changes in vision, speech, balance, or behavior

• Headaches wake your child from sleep

Early consultation ensures the right diagnosis and treatment plan.

---

Expert Care in Dubai

As a highly experienced pediatric neurologist in Dubai, Dr. Aman PS Sohal specializes in treating children with migraines, headaches, epilepsy, autism, ADHD, and other neurological concerns. Families often find that with timely advice and a tailored care plan, their child’s headaches become much easier to manage.

---

Migraines don’t have to control your child’s life. With the right balance of lifestyle changes and professional care, children can experience real relief and regain normal routines.

📌 If your child’s headaches are affecting daily life, don’t wait. Book a consultation with Dr. Aman PS Sohal, Pediatric Neurologist in Dubai, for expert guidance and compassionate care.

Ramadan fasting in Covid-19: Yes or No?

During Ramadan, which endures around a month, Muslims across the world swear off eating food and don't drink a single thing from first light until dusk. There are in excess of 3,000,000 Muslims in the UK, around five percent of the populace, and most have South Asian starting points. 

Numerous Muslim people groups have been excessively influenced by the pandemic, alongside other minority gatherings. "Our discoveries recommend that the practices related with Ramadan didn't affect COVID-19 passings," the report said. The report depended on a similar examination of COVID-19 death rates during a year ago's Ramadan, which started on April 23, not long after the main flood of the pandemic topped in the UK. 

Regular celebrations and common petitions at mosques were dropped during the month, in accordance with a cross country lockdown. Analysts broke down death rates in excess of twelve nearby position territories in England where the Muslim populace was at any rate 20%. They found that passings fell consistently there during the Ramadan time frame. 

Besides, this pattern proceeded with post-Ramadan, the report said, "recommending that there was no slacked inconvenient impact of fasting in the Muslim territories".People struggling with severe post-COVID-19 symptoms as Ramadan approaches are being advised not to fast this year by a United Arab Emirates respiratory system expert.

For sound individuals, in any case, fasting can really improve resistance to the infection.

We don't expect COVID-19 numbers to increment pointedly as they did during Ramadan 2020, which we chalked down to an overall expansion in the event that numbers around the world. 

However, we focus on the significance of complying with limitations on Iftar social events and keeping a sound eating regimen while fasting to hold the infection back from spreading. In contrast to last Ramadan, presently we have a great deal of patients post-COVID who are frail, invulnerability savvy.

They have lung fibrosis or some different issues in different organs of the body, so for such individuals, I believe it's better not too quick since they have issues with drying out. 

For solid individuals, however, "fasting, all things considered, ought not to expand defenselessness to contamination, and fasting in certain examinations has shown that it improves resistance on the off chance that we do it in an appropriate manner. This would include expanding cancer prevention agents consumption by eating products of the soil, and food sources high in nutrient D, just as staying away from gorging, he said. 

Feeling hopeful about the manner in which the UAE is taking care of the spread of the infection with its mass inoculation crusade we expect Ramadan 2022 to appear as something else. We have an inclination that if the characteristic propensity of the disease goes on by next Ramadan, we will be greatly improved, situated and practically back to our ordinary life.

By Dr Aman Ps Sohal (Pediatric neurologist Dubai)

World Health Day 2021: Dr .Aman Ps Sohal - Pediatric neurologist in Dubai

Health is not just centered around having physical well-being it also stresses the mental and social aspects. A person is said to be sound and healthy if he/she owns all these. In accordance with the WHO, health is centric on human happiness and wellness. It also leaves a significant contribution to economic progress, as healthy people have longer longevity and have more potential.

Millions of people across the globe have fallen prey to many terrifying diseases. Hence, to spread awareness about the entire health and wellness of people around the world annually, World Health Day is celebrated.

When is World Health Day celebrated?

World Health Day 2021 is celebrated every year on April 7 to thank the services and contributions of our medical faculty and the success of the World Health Organization.

Theme of World Health Day 2021

Every year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) opts a theme highlighting a particular priority area of public health. The theme that go for this year's global health awareness day is

Building a fairer, healthier world.

"The greatest wealth is health." -Virgil

The campaign highlights WHO's fundamental principle that "the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition."

World Health Day 2021: Themes of bygone years

Have a look at previous themes of World Health Day

● 2020: Supporting Nurses And Midwives

● 2019: Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere

● 2018: Universal Health Coverage: Everywhere

● 2017: Depression: Let's Talk

● 2016: Diabetes

How to achieve Good Health?

The following ways can help you achieve good health:

● Have healthy meals

● Include more fruits and vegetables to your diet

● Take a sufficient amount of water

● Perform regular exercise

● Sanitize your hand before eating

● Take enough nap

● Do regular meditation

● Strictly prohibit smoking, tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, and sugary drinks.

History of World Health day

In 1948, the WHO conducted the first World Health Assembly where the discussion was centered around the creation of World Health Day In 1950, the first World Health Day was organized on April 7 and from then on, it is celebrated every year on the same day. The prime aim of the day is to spread awareness of a specific health theme to stress a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization. 

Cerebral Palsy: Know Hows

Cerebral palsy in children is a disorder that affects your children either during their childbirth or during their childhood age. This is a disease that primarily affects the strong and regular movement of your muscles and affects your smooth movement adversely. This can result in health issues, with damage inflicted to hearing and speech, and can also cause serious learning disabilities. 

Life functions and major bodily processes like eating, talking, bladder, and bowel control are also affected. This is primarily caused when the fetus's brain is not developed in a progressive way or gets damaged due to some other reason.

It can result in poor vision, loss of hearing, speech impairment, sleep-wake cycle disruption, and other behavioral problems. Cerebral palsy can also start off other diseases like epilepsy, speech and communication problems, learning disability, and many more.

There exists no perfect treatment for cerebral palsy, but with fruitful therapies and medications, sensable improvement can be witnessed. Therapies for cerebral palsy treatment include speech therapy, behavioral therapy can also uplift their otherwise affected lives. Proper guidance and treatment can help in enriching their lives.

Cerebral palsy may affect only a particular muscle of the nervous system or else the effective muscle of the body making movement out of body control. So even the chewing process won’t happen properly. Hence, it’s common to sight people with braces and wheelchairs.

At times, children may be subjected to orthopedic surgeries to elongate their tendons. It is commonly found that Abbie born at just 28 weeks or before can face this issue compared to other kids.

 

Expert consultation from NeuroKidsDoc can be availed to upgrade the quality of your lives and identifying the specific cerebral palsy that has occurred on you can be a grave concern, which can be strategically carried over by the expert doctors.

 

How to help kids with learning problems due to neurological diseases?

How to help kids with learning problems due to neurological diseases?

 

The neurological disorders that may affect kids at the childhood stage are autism and epilepsy. Kids affected with autism can face learning problems at an early age. Sensory and motor processing systems of the brain are usually affected by autism and show varying degrees of severity in different people. The two prime traits of autism, found in the DSM-V are social communication impairment and restricted interests/repetitive behaviors. It’s also found that there may be extreme sensitivity to sensory input.

A tailor-made cure for autism is not to be found; however, there exist therapies that can aid a child with autism cope up successfully in a preschool classroom with typical peers.

Effective communication:

Employing pics in different areas of the room for a plethora of reasons can enable the child to realize what will happen consequently. Pics can also aid them to take choices and show what they want to tell to others.

1. Scheduling of images: An image library showing the routine of the day. Using this the child can help how to communicate with the teacher when it comes to a requirement. Say if the child is hungry, and is continuously showing it, then the teacher can use a flashcard with a swing on it, making the child understand that it’s playtime. Showing pics that employ various choices for toys to play with will allow the child to choose whether he wants to play with cars, Legos or puzzles with independence and success.
2. Sign Language: Some children can learn basic signs such as, “I need more”,” Ok done”, and many more.

Social Interaction

Children with autism fail to understand social mannerisms and may have difficulty with joint interactions and taking up on peers’ social cues. For instance, a child may pull at a child’s hair in a trial to join him in play rather than sitting next to him or asking to have a turn. Ways to model appropriate behaviors include:

1. Social Interaction Flashcards: Simple flashcards can be used as a visual guideline on how to deal with others. Take pictures of the child along with a stop sign to ask the child to stop after an interaction and pause for the other child to respond. Laminate and use these on a regular basis to help teach appropriate peer interactions.
2. Social Insights with Stories: These stories can be created and printed to aid explain specific social behaviors. The story provides examples of what to do and when. They are written in the first person and in present tense to help the child understand how to act in a specific social situation.

Dr. Aman PS Sohal is Founding Partner and Clinical Director of Neuropedia Children's Neuroscience Center with over 18 years of experience in Pediatrics which includes more than twelve years of experience as a Consultant in Pediatric Neurology.

Phone +971 52 372 1478(  Only )
Email :aman.sohal@neuropedia.ae
Neuropedia Children's Neuroscience Center
Opp. Dubai Zoo, Beach Road
Jumeirah 1, Dubai U.A.E