3 Ways Alcohol is Messing up Your Hormonesby Elizabeth Sergeant, Women’s Health Coach & Functional Medicine Practitioner 

I hate to break it to you ladies, but there’s no arguing that alcohol isn’t good news for our hormone health.

By having a few glasses of vino to unwind, we may unknowingly be contributing to a whole host of unpleasant symptoms - think mood and energy swings, brain fog, fatigue, and intensifying of PMS and perimenopause. Yikes! 

And what’s more, this can easily become a vicious cycle, as often symptoms lead us to drink to feel better. But that sense of relief is typically short lived, and so the cycle continue!

If you’re perimenopausal or experience hormonal symptoms (especially those of you in your 30s and 40s), alcohol may well be playing a big role. In fact, I’ve lost count of the amount of women I speak to who are oblivious to the extent that alcohol is playing puppet master with their hormones. But whilst this may seem like bad news, having this knowledge can actually be a real game changer. 

Here’s what’s going on with our hormones when we drink alcohol

1️- It increases oestrogenAlcohol slows down the breakdown of oestrogen in our liver, and upregulates the conversion of testosterone into oestrogen. The result? serious oestrogen dominance symptoms- think tender boobs, worsened PMS, mood swings, hot flashes.

 2 - It decreases progesteroneAlcohol can reduce our body’s ability to make progesterone. This not only worsens oestrogen dominance (which is to do with oestrogen to progesterone ratio), but can also lead to experiences of low mood, anxiety and self-doubt, especially in our luteal phase or during perimenopause.

 3️ - It dysregulates our blood sugar and stress hormonesAlcohol can interfere with our liver’s ability to release glucose from our body’s energy stores. This can cause our blood sugar to drop very low, causing the body to release stress hormones in response, and disturbing our sleep as a result.

ALL of the above can cause hormonal symptoms, but when you put them together, that’s quite the recipe for hormonal chaos! A combination of mood and energy swings, fatigue, PMS, hot flushes, feelings of overwhelm and self-doubt PLUS disrupted sleep is not a good one! 

 So why not try reducing your alcohol intake, or even cutting it out completely for a few weeks, and see how you feel? In fact, cutting out alcohol completely for a significant period (at least 2 weeks) is the only way to understand fully its impact on how you feel. It can be handy to keep a log of your symptoms (things like mood, energy levels, cramps, hot flushes, sleep quality), beforehand if you can, and then also during your time without drinking, to help you unpick the effect alcohol is having on your symptoms and overall wellbeing.