I believe that Michael Jackson was one of the most talented entertainers of our era. In the 70’s I rode around blasting “I’ll be there”, “ABC” and “Got to be there” out of my AM radio from my Burgundy 1964 Chrysler New Yorker that my dad and I painted. I loved Michael’s stuff. Now I must admit it was probably largely due to the fact that the girls loved his stuff too, but Michael, to me, was living the life. He had it made. Little did I know, right?
As he and I grew older, although Michael continued to create and perform some fantastic hits, his personal life seemed to be in a tailspin. So did his health. He contracted lupus in the 1980’s. Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the immune system turns against parts of the body, destroying the very cells and tissues it is meant to protect.
Although there is no one cause for lupus, according to the Lupus Foundation of America some of the factors that contribute to it are exhaustion, injuries, emotional stress, illness, life complications as well as anything that causes stress to the body, such as surgery or physical harm. Scientist have also found that a person can also become more susceptible to the disease when they are taking a drug to treat an illness
Now let’s take a look at what happened to Michael. In 1984 he was burned while singing for a Pepsi-Cola commercial in Los Angeles. When this happened he was the number one recording artist in the world. I would imagine that this added a great deal of acute emotional stress to Michael’s life that eventually turned in to chronic stress.
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There are two categories of stress. The first category, acute or temporary stress it is also known as the flight or fight response. What is acute stress? It’s when your brain produces chemicals that tell your body to speed up, making it perform more effectively. This is the type of stress you’ll experience when another car pulls out in front of you causing you to hit your brakes suddenly. A negative stress like this is also known as distress. It is the most commonly-referred to type of stress and affects us negatively by raising our blood pressure, sending all kinds of chemicals through our brains and bodies. If this flood of chemicals continues in your system for long periods of time, the flight or fight response can affect you very negatively and result in anxiety or even depression.
There are actually two classifications of stress – eustress and distress. Eustress is a positive form of acute stress. This is the stress you go through during positive events in your life, such as getting a promotion at work, getting married or buying a new house. These events are desirable but, just like distress eustress can be equally taxing on your body. If added together with other stressors it can also have a negative effect on your health.
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