A Guest Blog by Judy Hanavan - Menopause Nutritionist
Let’s be honest. Many of us enjoy a glass of wine to wind down. Whether it’s a Friday night ritual, a social habit, or a way to cope with stress, alcohol is woven into the fabric of many women’s lives. But when peri-menopause or menopause hits and your body suddenly feels unfamiliar, when sleep goes haywire, moods swing, and weight won’t budge, it’s worth asking: is alcohol helping, or making things worse?
For most women in midlife, it’s the latter.
Hormones and Alcohol: A Messy Mix
Peri-menopause and menopause are all about change, and your hormones are right in the thick of it. Oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone begin to fluctuate and eventually decline. These shifts influence everything from your mood and metabolism to how well you sleep and how your body stores fat.
And alcohol? It doesn’t just add to the chaos. It amplifies it.
“Alcohol doesn’t just take the edge off. It takes away the sleep, the balance, and often the progress you’ve worked so hard to achieve.”
Hot Flushes and Night Sweats
Alcohol is a vasodilator, which means it widens your blood vessels. This can make hot flushes and night sweats more intense. Even small amounts can act as a trigger. If you’ve ever had a glass of wine and then tossed and turned all night, drenched in sweat, it’s not your imagination.
Sleep Disruptions
Alcohol may help you fall asleep initially, but it interferes with deep, restorative sleep. It shortens your REM cycle, increases restlessness, and can lead to early waking. And let’s face it, midlife sleep is already fragile enough without another disruptor in the mix.
Mood, Stress and Anxiety
Hormonal shifts can already cause mood swings, anxiety, or low motivation. Alcohol might feel relaxing at the time, but it disrupts your brain’s calming and feel-good chemicals like GABA and serotonin. This can leave you more anxious, irritable, or emotionally flat the next day, a phenomenon many women describe as “hangxiety.”
Alcohol and Midlife Weight Gain: The Hidden Saboteur
If you’ve gained weight around your middle despite eating well and exercising, alcohol could be quietly working against you.
Here’s how:
1. Empty Calories Add Up Fast
Alcohol is calorie-dense, around 100 to 150 calories per standard drink. That’s before we even talk about mixers or the nibbles that often go with it. These calories don’t provide nutrients or satiety and are easily stored as belly fat, particularly visceral fat, which is linked to increased risk of metabolic disease and heart issues.
2. It Spikes Insulin and Blood Sugar
As oestrogen declines, your body becomes more insulin-resistant. Add alcohol to the mix and you’re more likely to experience blood sugar highs and crashes. This can lead to more cravings, fatigue, and fat storage, especially around the waistline.
3. It Disrupts Fat Burning
Your body treats alcohol like a toxin, so it prioritises clearing it over burning fat. This means fat loss is temporarily switched off. If alcohol is a regular part of your week, it’s like pressing pause on your metabolism again and again.
4. It Impacts Muscle Mass
Muscle is your metabolism’s best friend. It burns more energy, stabilises blood sugar, and supports mobility and strength. Alcohol interferes with protein synthesis and lowers testosterone, which makes it harder to maintain muscle. Less muscle means a slower metabolism and a harder time shifting body fat.
5. It Undermines Food Choices
Alcohol lowers your inhibitions, not just socially, but around food too. After a drink or two, you may find yourself saying yes to that second helping, ordering takeaway, or reaching for salty or sugary snacks you wouldn’t normally choose. This isn’t about lack of willpower. Alcohol alters brain chemistry, activating reward pathways and weakening decision-making around food. This often leads to overeating or choices that make it harder to reach your health goals.
6. Sleep and Cortisol Create a Craving Loop
Poor sleep increases cortisol, and elevated cortisol increases appetite, particularly for comfort foods like sugar and refined carbs. If your evening glass of wine is disrupting your sleep, it can create a cycle of low energy, high cravings, and weight that is difficult to shift.
Could Alcohol Be Contributing to Your Symptoms?
Check in with yourself. Are you noticing...
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Disrupted or restless sleep
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Increased belly fat or stubborn weight
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Hot flushes or night sweats
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Low energy or fatigue
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Mood swings or next-day anxiety
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Joint pain or inflammation
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Sugar or carb cravings
If you nodded at two or more of these, alcohol may be part of the picture.
Alcohol Is Inflammatory (And That Matters)
Midlife is a time when inflammation tends to rise. You may notice more joint pain, fatigue, bloating, brain fog, or autoimmune flare-ups. Alcohol adds fuel to this inflammatory fire. It irritates the gut lining, burdens the liver, and contributes to systemic inflammation, which can worsen everything from rosacea and IBS to arthritis and fatigue.
Bone Health and Alcohol: A Hidden Risk
During menopause, declining oestrogen accelerates bone loss, increasing the risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Alcohol makes things worse by interfering with osteoblasts (the cells that build bone), and by reducing calcium and vitamin D absorption. Over time, this can weaken bone structure and increase your risk of fractures, especially if you’re not getting enough nutrients or doing regular resistance training.
But Isn’t Red Wine Good for You?
You’ve likely heard that red wine is heart-healthy thanks to resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins. But here’s the thing. You’d need to drink litres of wine a day to get enough resveratrol to make a meaningful impact, which would be far more harmful than helpful. You can get more potent antioxidants from a handful of berries or a cup of green tea, without the side effects.
What Happens When You Cut Back (or Quit)?
Many women are surprised by how different they feel within just a few weeks of reducing or quitting alcohol. The changes are subtle at first, but powerful over time:
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More restful sleep
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Fewer hot flushes and night sweats
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Less bloating and easier weight loss
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Calmer moods and reduced anxiety
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Clearer focus and sharper memory
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More consistent energy
And there’s the added bonus of feeling more in control of your health and hormones.
Gentle Ways to Start Cutting Back
This doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can ease in at your own pace.
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Set alcohol-free days each week and protect them like appointments
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Try alcohol-free alternatives. There are some excellent options on the market and todays zero-alcohol options go far beyond the sugary mocktails. Check out Seadrift Distillery’s zero-alcohol gins
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Create a new evening ritual like herbal tea, a walk, or a warm bath
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Track how you feel the next morning to stay motivated
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Consider journaling or using a sleep or mood tracker to see patterns
Final Thoughts
Perimenopause and menopause already challenge your energy, sleep, and mood. While alcohol may feel like a short-term solution, over time it often works against the balance your body is trying to restore.
This isn’t about missing out. It’s about tuning in, to what your body truly needs right now. And sometimes, the simplest shift can unlock the biggest changes.
Looking for support to feel better through menopause?
I offer personalised programs and one-on-one guidance, including Metabolic Balance®, to help you sleep better, reduce symptoms, support sustainable weight loss, and feel like yourself again using food and lifestyle strategies tailored to you.
You can also join me in my Menopause Mastery group program, a supportive and educational 8-week journey created for women who want clear guidance and practical tools to navigate perimenopause and menopause with more confidence and ease.