Be honest - how does indulging in alcohol impact your energy? Did you know midlife women are drinking more than ever?
Midlife is tiring enough before you factor in disturbed sleep, brain fog and mood challenges. Yet when you feel energised everything is easier. New perspectives and possibilities emerge.

Here are two easy and impactful habits to enhance vitality and reduce menopause symptoms:

#1 Choose dark chocolate
Dark chocolate:
🍫Helps manage mood swings
🍫Helps produce endorphins (happy chemical)
🍫Increases dopamine (sensation of pleasure)
🍫Keeps your brain from getting foggy (flavonoids).
🍫Helps manage stress (nature’s valium – magnesium)
🍫Keeps food cravings at bay

A few squares a day is enough and choose brands with at least 75% cocoa solids in them as they’re “real” dark chocolate.

#2 Moderate alcohol (get real about drinking)
Midlife women are binge-drinking more than ever. 21% of Australian women between the ages of 40 and 60 are drinking unhealthy levels of alcohol (up from 13% in 2001). If you’re drinking from two to five drinks per day, you are not along and you might want to dial it back.

"We know that double burden, working and caring duties, is a large cause of stress for women.”
Mia Miller, Research officer and PhD candidate at The George Institute for Global Health

It’s no wonder midlife and drinking are linked. Alcohol feels like a stress reliever at the time even if it isn’t.

Alcohol consumption:
❌Increases hot flushes
❌Causes poor sleep and night sweats
❌Makes anxiety worse
❌Makes depression more intense
❌Dehydrates you which is never fun
❌Exposes you severe health issues like:
❌Breast cancer
❌Heart disease
❌Obesity
❌Organ damage

The link between alcohol & cancer is rarely talked about and yet it’s a very real threat.

Have you noticed as hormones drop so does your tolerance to alcohol?
This is because we are literally less able to hold onto water. Cartilage and tendons lose water as we get older, and our body is less able to dilute alcohol.

At the same time, levels of dehydrogenase enzymes in our liver decrease – enzymes that are responsible for breaking down and metabolising alcohol. As a result, we become much more sensitive to its effects. Your hangovers can be more severe in menopause and a few sociable drinks in the evening can make you feel as though you’ve been out clubbing till the early hours the next day.

I didn’t say it was fair, but it is a fact.

"Women experience alcohol harms more quickly and at lower levels of consumption than men,"
Dr Cassandra Wright, Menzies School of Health Research

The key is moderate alcohol consumption — just one drink per day or seven drinks per week. That way you get to improve bone health and lower your risk of dementia, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Tips to moderate drinking without feeling like a party pooper:
✔️Have a couple of alcohol free (AF) days every week
✔️Drink no more than 14 units a week = 8 standard glasses of wine
✔️Have a glass of water for every alcoholic drink you consume (you will thank me later)
✔️Choose pure alcohol (which might sound crazy) but the better quality, the less likely the hangover is to kill you off.
✔️Organic wine is a good choice (no sulphites) as are more natural mixers with less additives
✔️Pretend with a big glass of sparkling mineral water, ice and lime (kombutcha or non-alcoholic drink)

At the right amount for you, dark chocolate and alcohol can be healthy for midlife and menopausal women, it’s about balance and awareness of your body.

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 Tell us what is working for you? Have you made changes to what you eat and drink to find it positively affects your energy and peri/meno symptoms?

Here at @Meno Collective we are passionate about creating community and connecting midlife women with each other and with experts so we can learn, survive and thrive together. We would love to hear about your experiences in the comments below or anonymously via a DM or e-mail.

To find out more about how Meno Collective supports women own their health, career and menopause experience get in touch today

Feeling some new symptoms this season? Wondering if it’s perimenopause or something else?

Take empowered action today and try our FREE Meno Collective Perimenopause Checklist