In 2022, Shaquille O’Neal realized that he suffers from sleep apnea, which risked his well-being. His life was at risk because of his sleep disorder which essentially starts and stops his breathing. Shaquille visited a doctor who gave him a wake-up call, as his life was at risk unless he made drastic changes in his lifestyle. The doctor informed Shaq that his sleep disorder can cause disease or result in his death.
Shaq opened up about his condition on GQ where he admitted to sleeping with a sleep machine. “When I went back to the doctor, there was some stuff I never even knew,” O’neal spoke about his first meeting in years with a doctor. “They give you those certain words: ‘Hey man, you got sleep apnea and sleep apnea can cause hypertension or strokes, so you could die,” to which Shaq was shocked.
“I said, ‘What?’ ‘You could die.’ So now I’ve got to sleep with a sleep machine.” Shaq added in the interview. However, this wasn’t the only problem O’Neal was suffering from. O’Neal also revealed his dependency on painkillers, which weakened his kidneys. “They said ‘All those painkillers you were taking, bro? Your kidneys are kind of weak, so no more painkillers’, but I was dependent upon painkillers,” Shaq added.
Shaquille O’Neal changed his lifestyle to tackle sleep disorder
After the wake-up call from the doctors, O’Neal has certainly made huge changes in his lifestyle. The advice from the doctors was the primary reason, why Shaq decided to change his lifestyle. He has lost a significant amount of weight. He went from 405 pounds to 365 pounds, in a matter of months. He changed his diet to ensure a much healthier diet toward achieving a healthier lifestyle.
O’Neal has committed himself to losing more weight and hitting the 345-pound mark as he continues on his journey. However, it wasn’t an easy task for the 4x NBA champion to change his diet as his favorite food was burgers. Nonetheless, Shaq is definitely looking much better than he used to a couple of years ago.
O’Neal recently underwent hip surgery, after sharing a cryptic post on Twitter, which left NBA fans concerned about him. However, Shaq put everyone’s mind at ease when he posted a message on Twitter stating that he is fine and recovering from the surgery. The 15x All-Star will be spending some time at the hospital as he recovers from his surgery.
