What Life on Tour With the Rolling Stones Taught Me About Health
People always assume the rock 'n' roll years must have been terrible for my health. All that excess, all those late nights, all that chaos. And look, I won't pretend it was a spa retreat. But here's what nobody tells you: when you're responsible for keeping a family functioning in the middle of the most extraordinary circus on earth, you learn very quickly what actually works.
I was on the road with the Stones for the best part of twenty years. I had children to feed, routines to maintain, and a body that needed to keep up with an utterly relentless schedule. I couldn't afford to fall apart. So I figured out how to stay well under the most unlikely conditions — and honestly, those lessons have stayed with me ever since.
Sleep Is Non-Negotiable — No Matter What Time You Got to Bed
The shows finished late. The after-parties went later. But I learned early on that I needed a minimum of seven hours or everything fell to pieces. I'd quietly slip away at two in the morning if I had to. People thought I was boring. I didn't care. I knew that without sleep, I couldn't be the person my children needed, and I couldn't be the person I needed to be either.
Sleep is the foundation of everything. It affects your skin, your mood, your immune system, your ability to make good decisions. I still protect my sleep like it's precious, because it is.
Food Is Your Anchor When Everything Else Is Unpredictable
Wherever we were in the world, I sought out local markets. Tokyo, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town — every city has a market if you look for it. I'd find fresh vegetables, good fruit, things I could recognise. It became a little ritual that kept me sane.
I started going organic long before it was fashionable, partly because when you're eating in thirty different countries a year, you become very aware of what's in your food and what isn't. Real food, simply prepared, made from ingredients you can actually name. That principle has never let me down.
Movement Doesn't Have to Mean the Gym
I'm not a gym person. I never have been. But I walked everywhere possible. I swam when there was a pool. I danced — and when you're watching the Rolling Stones most nights, dancing is basically unavoidable.
What I learned is that the body just needs to move. It doesn't need a programme or a membership or expensive kit. It needs to not be sitting still for twelve hours a day. Walk somewhere. Stretch in the morning. Put music on and dance in the kitchen. It genuinely counts.
Your Mental Health Needs Tending On the Road — and At Home
The thing nobody talks about with that life is the loneliness of it. You're surrounded by thousands of people every night, and yet. I learned to find quiet deliberately — a walk alone, twenty minutes of stillness in the morning before the day started, a journal (yes, I've always kept one).
Protecting your peace is not a luxury. It's maintenance. I call it mental hygiene now, the same way you'd clean your teeth. You do it every day, you do it non-negotiably, and it stops bigger problems from building up.
The Most Important Thing I Learned
Take your health seriously before it gives you no choice.
I watched people around me in those years burn bright and burn out. The ones who lasted — in every sense — were the ones who paid attention to themselves. Who rested when they could, ate well when they could, and knew that their body was the one thing keeping them in the game.
I'm in my seventies now and I feel genuinely well. I put that down to the habits I built during those wild, wonderful, exhausting years on the road. Life is long if you look after yourself. And it's worth looking after.
