You are not alone
If you are a woman in your forties or fifties and you have noticed you are drinking more than you used to, you are in large company. More women in this age range are seeking help for alcohol every year, and there is a physiological story underneath that trend worth knowing.
I have been a drug and alcohol counselor for decades, and I am also a recovering alcoholic with a family history of substance use. What I kept noticing in my practice was that more and more women near menopause were asking for help, saying some version of the same thing. "I did not used to drink like this. Something changed." Curiosity sent me to the research.
Women and alcohol: the biology
Women process alcohol differently than men. A National Institutes of Health study titled Menopause, ageing, and alcohol disorders in women, available on PubMed, lays out part of why. Women have lower levels of the enzyme that breaks alcohol down, dehydrogenase, and generally carry a higher percentage of body fat. Those two factors alone make women more vulnerable to alcohol's effects and more prone to alcohol-related disease.
Add menopause on top. During peri-menopause, menopause, and post-menopause, estrogen drops. Other "feel good" hormones tend to drop with it. A lot of women feel that shift as low mood, low energy, and reduced enjoyment. At the same time life tends to get loud. College bills. Parents getting older. Losses stacking up. Many women reach for a glass of wine looking for any version of relief, and that one glass can grow quickly.
The risks get bigger with age
Women who drink more later in life run a higher risk of liver disease, heart issues, and osteoporosis. The finding that surprised me most was the connection between alcohol and breast cancer for women around menopause.
According to the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, one alcoholic drink a day raises a woman's breast cancer risk by about 7 percent. Two to three drinks per day raises that risk by roughly 20 percent. More than three drinks per day raises the risk by more than 51 percent. That is not a small number.
What to do if it sounds familiar
If you are worried about how much you have been drinking, or you are worried about a friend or family member, do not wait to ask the question. Alcohol at this life stage is not the same risk profile as it was at thirty. We offer alcohol counseling, drug counseling, and online counseling for clients outside the Houston area.
Call 832-928-0211 to schedule an initial appointment or a free phone consultation. The honest conversation is usually the hardest part. The rest has a path.