The real reason midlife women should give up booze (and not just for dry January)
Breast cancer. Bad skin. And, worse, hot flushes. In the second extract from his sobering book, a top doctor reveals . . .
There are many health risks in drinking, but of all the recreational substances we take, alcohol creates the greatest sense of sociability.
You become energetic, relaxed and positive, and you’re more inclined to like other people.
These kinds of benefits are hard to measure, but in my view they have an enormous value in society. Provided you drink sensibly, of course. research shows that people who drink socially — especially those who have a ‘local’ — tend to have more friends and, therefore, more emotional support.
They also feel more contented and actively involved in their local community.
But what does drink actually do to our brains and our bodies? Before you have another glass, read on . . .
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poisoning. For a medium-sized woman, drinking five large glasses of wine in one hour will lead to a blood alcohol level of 300mg per 100ml, which can be enough to put you in a coma.
If a man and a woman drink the same amount, the woman’s blood alcohol level will be higher.
It’s not only because women tend to be smaller, but also because, proportionally, women’s bodies have a lower percentage of water — and alcohol is diluted in the body’s water content.
Many people also find that once they’ve got into the habit of having a cigarette with a drink, it’s hard to have one without the other. This may be down to the fact that smoking accentuates the impact of alcohol on dopamine, the neurotransmitter involved in drive, motivation and energy.
Tolerance of alcohol builds up very fast. At the start of a holiday, you might feel drunk on, say, a glass of wine or two; by the end of the week, it could take a bottle to feel the same way.
Binge-drinking damages the brain more than consuming the same amount of alcohol in a more spread-out fashion, according to a University of Sussex study.
A binge can also kill you, even if you don’t feel particularly drunk, and women are more likely to die this way than metn.
Consider the sad story of 37-yearold NHS worker Paula Bishop. While on holiday in 2017, in the course of one day, she drank a few small beers, two glasses of wine and four Irish coffees — around 15 units altogether. Her husband said she hadn’t seemed particularly drunk, yet it was enough to kill her.
YOU MIGHT BE DRUNK THE MORNING AFTER
FORMeR Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher was pulled over one morning in 2017 and failed a breathalyser test. It was 11am. She had reportedly been out until 3am. eight hours later, her breath alcohol level was still around three times the drink-drive limit.
You don’t need to have drunk an enormous amount to be over the limit the next day. If you have one large glass of 13 per cent alcoholby-volume wine, for example, you won’t be able to drive (legally) for four-and-a-half hours.
And if you drink three small glasses of the same wine, you’ll have to wait eight hours to be under the limit.
even then, you’re taking a risk. Numerous studies have shown that being hungover affects many of the key skills you need for driving, including coordination, memory and paying attention.
JUST ONE GLASS CAN RUIN SKIN AND SLEEP
WOMeN who care about their skin should probably avoid drinking white wine and spirits. The more glasses you knock back, the higher your chances are of developing rosacea, which results in flushing and redness. Red wine is much better because it won’t cause the condition, though it will make existing rosacea worse.
Mind you, it’s best not to drink at all, because any alcohol dehydrates the skin, causing it to look less plump. Blood vessels will also dilate under your eyes, making dark eye-bags more visible. Drinking often leads to puffiness and spider veins on the face, too.
Alcohol also reduces the higher functions of the brain, making it more likely that you will eat uninhibitedly and pile on the pounds. And don’t forget about all the calories in booze, which is made by fermenting sugar or starch.
Your sleep quality is also affected. Alcohol puts you into a very deep sleep, but its sedative effect works for only around four hours. At this point, you may wake up with a headache — perhaps with lights flashing in your field of vision — and find it hard to get back to sleep.
At the very least, your sleep will be disturbed.
And don’t think this only happens to people who get plastered. Research suggests you only need to drink three units (one large glass of wine) to disrupt your sleep significantly.
IT MAKES MENOPAUSAL HOT FLUSHES WORSE . . .
STUDIeS have shown that alcohol can worsen sweating and hot flushes in menopausal women.
After the menopause, some women become more sensitive to alcohol, and find that drinking the same amount they did before makes them more intoxicated.
. . . AND CAN KILL YOUR LIBIDO
JUDGING by how often people have sex after drinking alcohol, you might assume it’s an aphrodisiac. To a certain extent, that’s true.
It’s been shown to help women feel less inhibited about looking at sexual images, for instance, though it doesn’t make them feel any more aroused.
In another study, 24 heterosexual men and women were interviewed after either taking marijuana or drinking before sex. Although