|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Rolling
Stones: How They Keep Rockin'
Are there health secrets that let
these aging rock stars strut across stages year after year?
|
By
Richard SIne
WebMD Feature
|
|
|
Maybe they're still
seeking satisfaction. But time is definitely on their
side.
The Rolling Stones are
still one of the world's biggest rock and roll bands.
They've got the record-setting concert grosses and Super
Bowl performance credit to prove it.
Sure, the band's been
around since 1962, and three of its members are in their
60s. But all the jokes about walkers and dentures are
getting a bit, well, old. Here are a few post-Super Bowl
stats on Mick Jagger for you, courtesy of the British
tabloid the Daily
Express:
Age: 62. Weight: 140
pounds. Waist size: 28 inches. Distance he struts or
sprints in a typical stadium show: about
12 miles.
What's all the more
remarkable is that the Stones are not only the
longest-running rock group in America but also its some
of its most infamous bad boys. Along with some great
albums, their legacy includes a long trail of dead or
burned-out band members, wives, and groupies who just
couldn't keep up with their rock-and-roll lifestyle.
Changing Face of Aging
How does Sir Mick stay
in such amazing shape? How does Keith Richards even stay
alive -- and doesn't that contradict everything we've
been told about how to stay healthy in our senior years?
Why haven't the Stones retired to an island somewhere?
And what keeps the fans coming out in droves, year after
year, to a band that's past its prime?
The answers, it
appears, tell us a lot about the changing (but
puffy-lipped) face of aging today. To their legions of
baby boomer fans, the Stones symbolize their own
potential in their later years -- and the possibility of
redemption for youthful indiscretions.
"People are being told
you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you're over the
hill, it's time to lower your expectations of yourself,"
says Gene Cohen, MD, PhD, a leading aging researcher and
author of The
Mature Mind. "Now
increasingly we're seeing people who still keep their
expectations high. It pumps a lot of people up to see
that the Stones can still do it."
How
Mick Starts It Up
One of the benefits of
being in a famous rock band is you can keep a personal
trainer on hand as you tour. Jagger's trainer is Torje
Eike, a Norwegian whose previous clients include Olympic
athletes, national soccer teams, and former Spice Girl
Geri Halliwell.
Before a tour, Jagger
runs eight miles a day, swims, kickboxes, and works out
every other day in the gym, according to a report in the
Daily Express. Meanwhile, Eike keeps Jagger on a diet low in fat and
high in whole grains. (During the tour, the Stones
entourage includes more trainers, dietitians, masseurs,
and a physiotherapist, the
Daily Express
reports.)
Jagger told the
Daily Express
he reformed himself about 15 years ago and has given up
almost all alcohol. But for the other Stones -- the ones
who aren't constantly sprinting across the stage -- it's
a different story.
Guitarist Keith
Richards, 62, reportedly kicked his heroin habit in the
1970s, but still smokes and drinks up a storm. Just last
year he was voted "rock's biggest hell-raiser" by the
VH1 music channel.
Relatively little is
known about the condition of the oldest Stone,
64-year-old drummer Charlie Watts. But the youngest,
58-year-old guitarist Ron Woods, is likely closest to
the cliff's edge. Just last year he announced that he
had just played his first Stones show while sober.
Woods sidelines as a
painter; one of his paintings recently sold for over $1
million. His passion for painting -- as well as his
desire to stay with the Stones -- has kept him from
succumbing to alcohol, according to a report in the
British newspaper, the
Daily Mail.
"They have an
extraordinary talent, and that helps them weather the
consequences of their behavior better than the average
person," says Paul Mulhausen, MD, a geriatrician at the
University of Iowa's medical school.
Why
They Still Rock
A generation ago, a man
in his mid-60s was an old man. Today, he's part of a
group that gerontologists call the "young old." They're
the beneficiaries of new lifestyle habits, new advances
in health care, and new expectations.
As the Stones were
getting huge in the 1960s, The Who were singing, "Hope I
die before I get old." Cohen says the generation gap
then emerging was really an
education
gap. The average person over 65 back then had just 8.6
years of education -- no match for college-educated
flower children.
Now, the baby boomers
who grew up with the Stones and The Who are getting a
bit long in the tooth themselves. Better educated than
their forebears, they also want to stay active longer.
And they're willing to plunk down serious cash to see
the Stones for reasons largely unrelated to music. The
Stones remind them what it felt like to be young, even
as they defy the common wisdom about what will happen
when they get old.
Staying
Engaged
In fact, the Stones
confirm an emerging consensus that staying active leads
to better physical and mental health in later years.
"One of the keys to successful aging is to remain
engaged," Mulhausen says. "Find something you're
passionate about and stay passionate about it. People
who do that are happier as they grow older than people
who are disengaged. And being a musician really allows
one the opportunity to remain engaged through the life
span."
Research is emerging
that challenging the older brain and body can help
ward off degenerative
conditions like Alzheimer's diseaseward
off degenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
Of course, Mick and his
pals are just part of a growing roster of prominent
musicians who have stayed active well into their golden
years (see Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Paul McCartney,
Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, and so on). Most of these guys
don't need the money. They stay active because rock and
roll keeps them young -- a good lesson for baby boomers,
Cohen says.
These
Guys Are Role Models?
Perhaps the Stones are
indeed role models for the baby boomers. But if so,
they're role models of a very strange sort. If these
wild men are still going strong, one might ask, what's
the point of keeping healthy habits at all?
It's the kind of
question that makes experts on aging twitch nervously.
"You can make up for
lost time," concedes Mulhausen. "Research suggests that
people who engage in unhealthy behaviors who haven't
crossed the line and suffered irreversible health
consequences can change their future if they stop -- and
start to lead healthier lifestyles."
But that doesn't mean
the "Strolling Bones," as they've been called, are in
the clear. As they get older, Mulhausen says, their
bodies' "homeostatic reserve" -- or ability to weather
stress -- will continue to decline. Youthful misdeeds
tend to reduce the body's homeostatic reserve. So the
Stones may be more susceptible to diseases associated
with aging, such as diabetes, heart disease or stroke.
Hearing
Loss
And then there's the
question of their hearing. Today's top musicians wear
custom-made earplugs that dampen noise very effectively.
But the Stones were playing long before such protection
was available. As a result, they likely are suffering
from mild to severe hearing loss, says Gail Whitelaw,
PhD, president of the American Academy of Audiology.
It's the kind of hearing loss that makes it hard to hear
companions in a crowded bar.
Now or later, the
Stones may pay a price for their hard living. But if (or
when) their past ever does catch up to them, they do
have one advantage over many of their hard-living fans.
"If you're going to
engage in those activities, make sure you're rich,"
Mulhausen says. "Because if you're poor, you can't
afford the treatments, and the consequences are going to
be much more profound."
Published Feb. 6, 2006.
Copyright (c) 2006,
WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It's
easy to stay up to date on the things that interest you.
Just 
