Jennifer Lopez said that she once had a panic attack and felt “physically paralyzed” after over-working herself early in her career.
In the latest edition of her newsletter “On the JLO,” Lopez spoke to her fans about the importance of resting at least seven to nine hours every night. To illustrate her point, Lopez recalled having a panic attack in her late 20s because she was only getting only three to five hours of sleep.
“I was sitting in a trailer, and all the work and the stress it brought with it, coupled with not enough sleep to recuperate mentally, caught up with me,” Lopez said. “I went from feeling totally normal, to thinking about what I needed to do that day and all of a sudden I felt as if I couldn’t move … I was completely frozen.”
She added: “I found myself feeling physically paralyzed, I couldn’t see clearly and then the physical symptoms I was having started to scare me and the fear compounded itself. Now I know it was a classic panic attack brought on by exhaustion, but I had never even heard the term at the time.”
Lopez said that her security guard had to pick her up and drive her to the doctor.
Jennifer Lopez getting a check-up from her doctor in “Halftime.” Netflix
“By the time I got there, I could at least speak again and I was so terrified I thought I was losing my mind,” She continued. “I asked the doctor if I was going crazy. He said, ‘No, you’re not crazy. You need sleep … get 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, don’t drink caffeine, and make sure you get your workouts in if you’re going to do this much work.'”
The recent Netflix documentary “Halftime,” which presents Lopez’s hectic year in the lead-up to her 2020 Super Bowl halftime performance with Shakira, also shows how hard-working the “Let’s Get Loud” singer is. Lopez seemed to be working almost 24/7 and flying between Los Angeles and Miami in order to keep up with her multiple commitments.
At one point during the documentary, Lopez tells her doctor that she had become “depressed” and physically sick due to working too much and being away from her children.
