Over recent years research has discovered that for many women the onset of alcohol abuse coincides with changes in hormone levels – changes that lots of women are unaware of in the first stages. When that is coupled with other stresses in their lives – job changes, health issues, children leaving home – women could find themselves abusing alcohol for the first time in their lives.
Good to know
In our teens, 20s and 30s, our adrenal glands and adrenal glands produce a form of estrogen called estrodiol. Later, during our mid to late 40s and early 50s, our ovaries begin producing less estrogen, leaving more of the job to our adrenal glands. As the adrenal glands take over the task, estrogen drops, drops and spikes again-rather erratically. At this time, many women report that they begin to become forgetful and expertise “foggy thinking” and moodiness.
That’s because our brains work better when estrogen levels are steady. These are the first signs of menopause and, from time to time, the start of escalating alcohol intake as a way of easing various unfamiliar discomforts. While normal menopause is a gradual process which begins between the ages of 45 and 55, there are quite a few things that may result in this entire process starting earlier than normal, in other words – premature menopause. Heavy drinking (defined as more than one glass of wine, 12 ozs.
Chronic stress
Like excessive athletic training. Indeed, heavy alcohol consumption alone may hasten the onset of menopause by up to five decades. As we reach complete melancholy, our estrogen production will have dropped by 75%-90% and we normally begin experiencing other menopausal symptoms – hot flashes, fatigue, and difficulty sleeping. Many of us also experience a drop in libido (sexual desire) which can continue well beyond menopause. Unfortunately drinking alcohol in this stage of lifestyle causes more problems than it solves. For instance, alcohol itself may cause hot flashes and boost sleep disruptions.
For those people in midlife that are experiencing hot flashes and sleep problems (due to the night sweats that accompany hot flashes), alcohol only compounds the issue. Additionally, Jasmine Lew, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has discovered links between the quantity of alcohol girls consumed and a greater risk of cancer. Specifically, Lew and her coworkers discovered that alcohol increased the risk for the most frequent kinds of postmenopausal breast cancer.
And the more we drank, the greater the risk, so, while drinking one serving of alcohol resulted in only a 7 percent increase of danger, drinking three servings of alcohol per day resulted in as high as 51% increase in risk.
Final word
Further problems occur in the region of bone density because alcohol increases the amount of calcium excreted in the urine, resulting in a calcium deficiency and finally osteoporosis. And naturally heavy drinking increases our risk of liver disease, falls, DUIs, and automobile accidents. So what are we to do? Peri-menopause, menopause, and post menopausal are always instances of danger for those people who find we’re drinking too much. With that in mind, if you’re over 40 you should think about hormonal changes as a contributing element in any change in your alcohol use. It should also be a consideration if you become worried about alcohol abuse and seek help.