If you have started to notice that your tolerance for alcohol has changed during menopause, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n
Dr Naomi Potter, menopause specialist and founder of Menopause Care, says that although this is extremely common, it\u2019s something that people are often reluctant to speak about openly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that women are a little bit sheepish to admit to, but it\u2019s still very common,\u201d says Potter. \u201cIt can present itself in a number of different ways, but most women report that their tolerance goes down.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of women say that they used to be able to drink half a bottle of wine and be able to function well and hold a proper conversation and not feel drunk, whereas now they tolerate it a lot less in terms of how drunk they get and tend to also get much worse hangovers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can also make them feel very anxious so they don\u2019t actually enjoy the feeling of having a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what are the main reasons behind this shift \u2013 and what can we do to manage it over the party season?<\/p>\n
What biological changes during menopause might impact our tolerance to alcohol?<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we get older, especially once you start hitting your 40s, pretty much everybody\u2019s metabolism slows,\u201d says Dr Alisha Esmail, GP and menopause specialist at London Gynaecology. \u201cSo, the way your body processes any kind of input into the body changes, especially alcohol.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOur body tends to break down the alcohol more slowly, it stays in the body for longer, therefore lots of people experience side effects such as feeling it more and experience lingering side effects of it for longer the next day.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
Other age-related changes, such as a natural change in body composition, can also have an effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause our metabolism slows, our body composition can change later in life and during menopause,\u201d explains Esmail. \u201cYour body naturally stores more fat than muscle as you get older, and fat doesn\u2019t absorb alcohol or store alcohol as well as muscle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, the liver, which is the main organ that breaks down alcohol, gets a bit less efficient as we get older.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hormone fluctuations during menopause then adds another layer onto this.<\/p>\n
\u201cOestrogen pretty much affects every part of your body, including how your body processes alcohol and just toxins in general,\u201d says Esmail. \u201cSo, as your levels of oestrogen go up and down during menopause, the way you process alcohol is not going to be as efficient as it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
How can drinking alcohol impact common menopausal symptoms?<\/p>\n
\u201cDrinking alcohol can have an exaggerated compounding effect on your pre-existing perimenopausal symptoms,\u201d says Potter. \u201cThey are like two evil twin sisters working together in harmony to make things worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
She explains that some women find that consuming alcohol can make sleeping issues, which are often associated with menopause, even worse.<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDrinking alcohol can disrupt REM sleep, as you are much more likely to have increased night-time awakening, but if you have that on top of your perimenopausal sleep symptoms, it can compound that effect,\u201d says Potter.\n <\/p>\n
Drinking can also heighten anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lack of sleep will make you feel rubbish in itself, but especially if you\u2019ve already got all the mood changes and anxiety that may come with menopause anyway, as it will make that a bit worse,\u201d says Esmail.<\/p>\n
In addition, consuming alcohol can exacerbate hot flushes and night sweats.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlcohol is what we call a vasodilator, so it makes your blood vessels open and that\u2019s what happens when you have a hot flush,\u201d explains Potter. \u201cSo, again it has that kind of compounded effect. You\u2019re much more likely to have frequent hot flushes and worse hot flushes if you\u2019ve been drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are some tips on how to take back control and manage these effects during the party season and beyond\u2026<\/p>\n
\n Be honest\n <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just a case of being sensible and being honest with yourself about how much you are drinking,\u201d says Esmail. \u201cWe all naturally want to see the best in ourselves, so we are not always honest with ourselves in terms of how regularly and how much we\u2019re drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Taking breaks\n <\/p>\n
\u201cConsider taking breaks and having dry spells to see how you feel, as it can help give your body a bit of a break,\u201d recommends Esmail.<\/p>\n
\n Accept it\n <\/p>\n
\u201cFighting against it doesn\u2019t really work, so it\u2019s important to have that acceptance that you probably aren\u2019t going to be able to drink like you could in your 20s,\u201d says Potter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking some lifestyle adjustments and working out what your social life is going to look like can make this much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Stay hydrated\n <\/p>\n
\u201cStay hydrated because alcohol is a diuretic, and one of the reasons you feel so rubbish the day after drinking is because you\u2019re so dehydrated,\u201d says Esmail. \u201cMaybe think about having some electrolytes too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Try the zebra striping method\n <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to drink, try to have a big glass of water after every alcoholic drink or try alternating alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic drinks,\u201d suggests Potter.<\/p>\n
\n Don\u2019t drink on an empty stomach\n <\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure that you don\u2019t drink on an empty stomach and that you have a proper nutrient-rich meal before you start drinking,\u201d recommends Potter.<\/p>\n
\n Try non-alcoholic options\n <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some amazing non-alcoholic drinks on the market now that make you feel like you\u2019re having a celebratory drink,\u201d says Potter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you have started to notice that your tolerance for alcohol has changed during menopause, you\u2019re not alone.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60,61069],"class_list":{"0":"post-211697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-wow"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}