The recent headlines have shocked the world! The king of pop is no more! The larger than life pop icon whose popularity rivaled that of Elvis Presley succumbed to a mere heart attack at the young age of fifty. And you thought money could get you everything – even good health and a long life! It really can’t!
Michael Jackson succumbs to a heart attack and it becomes big news; however, there are millions of people who die due to this problem and no one even knows about it. Heart problems are plaguing the entire world, yet we only seem to pay attention when it strikes a figurehead like Jackson.
The reasons for the problems with heart attacks are not hard to guess; unhealthy eating habits, obesity and lack of exercise play a major role and are an ideal and perfect recipe for a massive heart attack! The icing on the cake? Haphazard work routines and increasing stress!
Michael Jackson at least made it to 50. These days there are 20-year old kids who have heart problems and are having heart attacks. These kids are so engrossed in watching television, playing video games, surfing the Internet or working and they never take the time to really take care of themselves by getting the proper exercise. Food is not given the priority it deserves because it is too easy to stop in at a fast food restaurant and have a quick meal that is devoid of all kinds of nutrients the body needs. As a result heart problems are on the rise and affecting younger and younger generations.
In this information age, you can learn many things at the press of the button. However, the draw back is that you often get information from different quarters that can be conflicting. While looking at information on how to lose weight and how to prevent heart problems, it’s truly possible to end up totally confused. So the best thing to do is, start small in your quest to get healthy and prevent heart problems and tackle the bigger issues one step at a time.
Losing weight and preventing heart problems do not need earth shattering changes. All you need to do is change your lifestyle a little bit at a time. Don’t go all out, since it may just cause you to “fizzle out”. Instead just make some small changes starting in your kitchen. Stock your fridge with fruits and vegetables. Replace those fattening potato chips with some healthy snacks. Give up all the colas, cokes and the fizzy drinks! Feel like a drink? Make a glass of ice cold lemonade or better still drink cold water – falling in love with water will keep your body free from all toxins, help you to lose weight, naturally suppress your appetite and even make your face glow! Eat slowly and enjoy every bite of your food.
You don’t need to huff and puff right away to lose weights. Again small changes will help you here. For example, ditch the elevator and take the stairs. Put on some music at home and just dance to your heart’s content. Plug in your ipod and go for a thirty minute walk. Park at the end of the parking lot and trot the extra distance to the store. Better still, get a yoga DVD and start practicing yoga which is gentle, safe and effective.
Whacko Jacko’s death gives us an important lesson – work or anything else is not more important than your health. Neglecting your health will only take you down a route of despair and eventually doom!
Great blog man! I herd on Larry king that Lue ” incrediable hulk” was training him for his upcoming tour and said that MJ was in decent shape.
Jonas
http//www.NolaTrainer.com
Thank Jonas,
wow..I thought the opposite, but I guess we'll all find out what happened when they get the autopsy done..
who really knows… but i do agree what you said in your blog post is right on target for most similar cases.
This article is completely wrong. Michael Jackson did not die of a heart attack. He suffered a cardiac arrest, and while a myocardial infarction (heart attack) could of occurred and then led to cardiac arrest, it would be unusual.
You need to understand the huge difference between these terms.
Cardiac arrest is caused by an arrhythmia that causes the heart to stop beating normally, which results in death if CPR and other prompt interventions such as defibrillation are not started within minutes.
Heart attack (aka myocardial infarction) is when an artery called the coronary arteries, which surround the heart muscle to keep that muscle rejuvenated with oxygenated blood, is unable to continue to provide the heart muscle with such vital resources effectively. The cause for a heart attack might be existing plaque called atherosclerosis that “bursted” and caused inflammation within the artery, which leads to a thrombus (blood clot). After a blood clot occurs, the heart muscle can not get blood fast enough and tissue damage starts within minutes. This is a heart attack.
Many different kinds of people are at risk for cardiac arrest, not just people with coronary artery disease, which Michael Jackson may of not even had.
This could of very well been related to a certain dosage of medication, not so much his current lifestyle. Nobody knows at this point.
Also, some children start to develop lifestyle-related vascular problems much earlier than what was previously known. However, heart disease in children is largely congenital (meaning at birth) and is no reflection on their lifestyle. When it is acquired heart disease in children they often have acquired it from an infection or other reasons that are not caused by their day-to-day lives. Even though rare, heart attacks in pediatrics can occur from congenital reasons also.
I am not saying that we don't have an obesity problem with children in this country and the critical need for more time exercising daily, but I just needed to point out that these overweight children may have high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol early on in life and that is setting them up for future significant coronary artery disease, but we must realize that for many children heart disease is not their fault.
I'm going to rephrase part of my above submission.
I do agree with the majority of this article, especially relating to simple lifestyle changes that can add up to helping someone achieve better long term health.
The part of “heart attack” was very misleading and the 20 year old comment (as they are still considered pediatrics until 21 in most specialty children's health care systems) was also partially wrong as many children with heart disease are now living full lives well past 20.
I will definitely agree that most 20 year olds do not have slightest clue how to take care of themselves and care much more about their gadgets, not so much about their future health. We do have some significantly overweight 20 year old boys and girls but almost all of these are not at immediate risk for a myocardial infarction. Most heart-related interventions on a 20 year old patient is congenital or acquired by rheumatic fever, etc.
Diana,
All I have to say is WOW! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with the other readers. I'm sure they'll find much value out of it.
Also I did write this article when the news was pretty fresh and plan on doing a few updates on it as we know more and more about what happened to Jackson.
But once again I would like to thank you for your amazing input.
Very good info-my problem is fibromyalgia , trying to figure out how to exercize with chronic widespread pain-help! Betty