We report a method of a method for detecting an epileptic seizure, comprising providing a first body signal reference value; determining a current body signal value from a time series of body signals; comparing the current body signal value and the first reference value; determining a work level of the patient; determining whether the current body signal value comprises an ictal component, based on the work level and the comparing; issuing a detection of an epileptic seizure in response to the determination that the current body signal value comprises the ictal component; and taking at least one further action (e.g. warning, delivering a therapy, etc.), based on the detection. We also report a medical device system configured to implement the method. We also report a non-transitory computer readable program storage unit encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform the method.