This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/hangovers-getting-worse-menopause-could-be-to-blame-20260313-p5oaau.html
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
Janine Duncan had, by her personal admission, at all times been a heavy drinker.
“I’m part of Generation X and was brought up with a certain alcohol culture, the ‘we can drink as much as men’ type thinking,” says the 52-year-old.
Working in actual property, the place heavy ingesting was normalised, after which having two sons, which uncovered her to “mummy wine culture”, meant her consumption went unnoticed.
But when she entered her 40s, one thing modified.
“I was experiencing anxiety and brain fog. I wasn’t sleeping well. I was having terrible night sweats that were waking me up 10 times a night, and I was having horrendous periods,” she says. These signs fuelled extra ingesting.
“I was in a high-powered role and under a lot of pressure from work. I’d get in the door, start cooking dinner, pouring lots of wine. I’d still go to bed at 9.30pm, but I would drink a bottle in that time easily.”
What Duncan didn’t realise till later was that she was in perimenopause – and her expertise was removed from unusual.
Drinking to manage
A 2025 survey from Macquarie University of ladies over 40 in Sydney discovered many respondents, like Duncan, have been self-medicating menopausal anxiousness signs with alcohol.
Menopause usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55, however signs can begin showing earlier throughout perimenopause.
Professor Rebecca Mitchell from Macquarie University’s Health at Work Research Centre led the examine alongside the Northern Sydney Local Health District Alcohol and Tobacco Program group.
She says its findings are notably important in mild of broader ingesting tendencies in Australia.
While general consumption of alcohol has declined over the previous few many years, older girls are bucking this development. According to 2022 analysis, one in five Australian women aged 40 to 65 are binge-drinking, a statistic that’s up from 2001.
Research on menopause and alcohol remains to be rising however one 2025 study of almost 1000 British women discovered that whereas some used alcohol to manage, others prevented it completely as a result of it worsened menopausal signs.
Meanwhile, a longitudinal analysis of over 3000 American women discovered that whereas girls who recognized as extreme drinkers have been extra prone to lower their ingesting over all phases of menopause, those that recognized as non-excessive drinkers have been extra prone to enhance consumption within the early peri- and postmenopausal phases.
Eventually, Duncan visited her gynaecologist, who helped her join the dots between her worsening menopause signs and alcohol (and likewise put her on hormone alternative remedy). She challenged herself to 100 days alcohol-free and by no means appeared again.
Now over two years sober, the expertise has been life-changing.
“The improvement in my mental health has been second to none. It’s the best thing I ever did for it. My only regret is I didn’t stop sooner,” she says.
How alcohol impacts menopausal signs
Alcohol has a unfavorable impact on a few of perimenopause and menopause’s commonest signs, says Dr Erin Morton, adjunct affiliate professor on the University of Southern Queensland and founding father of Bespoke Clinical Research.
Symptoms like scorching flushes, night time sweats, melancholy and anxiousness are worsened by ingesting, despite the fact that alcohol could really feel like it will possibly assist in the quick time period, she says.
In the long run, alcohol can even impact issues postmenopausal girls are already at higher threat of, says Morton.
“Alcohol can cause issues with bone density, so that enhances the chances of osteoporosis. It also has issues with heart disease, with our diabetic and cardiovascular functions affected by our hormones dropping, there’s increased cholesterol, increased blood pressure,” she says.
And, Morton says, alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen, the place even small quantities can enhance the danger of most cancers.
Caroline Gurvich, a medical neuropsychologist and an affiliate professor at Monash University, says age can scale back individuals’s capability to metabolise alcohol, notably girls.
She additionally says the transition happens at a life stage when many are “stretched and stressed”, elevating youngsters, caring for aged dad and mom and navigating busy careers.
On the opposite hand, she says “there are some women who have the capacity for freedom that they might not have had for years, and so they’re re-engaging in their social life. And in Australia, that often entails alcohol”.
Knowledge is energy
Mitchell says a key takeaway from the Macquarie survey was the facility of knowledge.
After receiving a short intervention (receiving info that alcohol will increase the severity of menopausal signs), researchers discovered respondents’ intention to lower alcohol consumption rose.
“It was not every woman, not every time, but it’s very significant,” she says.
Mitchell says there are at the moment no medical pointers for perimenopause in Australia, which may imply girls don’t obtain the precise therapy for his or her signs, or that they’re dismissed.
While she thinks consciousness and schooling round menopause have elevated over the previous decade, stigma – round menopause and alcohol consumption in girls – persists.
Gurvich encourages girls battling menopausal signs to know “there is help available, whether it’s in the form of hormone therapy or psychological help”, and to keep away from counting on alcohol the place doable.
“That is going to be much more beneficial in the short and long term compared to using alcohol as a coping strategy,” she says.
Dr. Nicole Lee, chief govt of not-for-profit Hello Sunday Morning, says it may be useful to speak to others, since girls who drink at dangerous ranges have a tendency to take action alone. Hello Sunday Morning’s Daybreak App gives free 24/7 peer help to these trying to change their relationship with alcohol.
“There’s a whole load of lifestyle changes that can be really beneficial,” Lee says.
“Making sure you’ve got a good sleep routine – if you’re having sleep problems, go talk to your doctor about it. You don’t have to suffer through that.
“Do things that bring you joy. Yoga, if you’re into that, meditation, things that are ‘me’ time, and things that replace the relaxing effects of alcohol.”
Where to study extra and get assist
National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline 1800 250 015
Make probably the most of your well being, relationships, health and vitamin with our Live Well publication. Get it in your inbox each Monday.
From our companions
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/hangovers-getting-worse-menopause-could-be-to-blame-20260313-p5oaau.html
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
