When Annie* started pacing around her house at 3am and struggling to find words during work meetings, she put it down to stress and perimenopause. She wasn’t entirely wrong. But it wasn’t the whole story.

At 43, she was juggling a full-time job as a hospitality HR manager, three teenage children and the endless demands of family life. Like many women in midlife, she felt stretched in every direction. “I was doing long hours at work, running around with kids’ activities and household chores. I wasn’t sleeping well. Then I’d get up feeling exhausted and spend the day dealing with headaches, mood swings, hot flushes and brain fog. I went around in circles for six months feeling like my world was imploding.”

After speaking with friends and reading about the symptoms online, Annie became convinced she was in the depths of perimenopause. One friend’s advice seemed particularly appealing. “She said, ‘When the kids are in bed, run yourself a bath, pour yourself a glass of wine and then get into bed.’ At the time, it sounded like the perfect way to end the day.”

At first, Annie felt it was helping. She would often have a glass of wine with dinner to unwind after a stressful day. But the glass before bed soon became two. Then three. What had started as a way to relax gradually became a nightly ritual. “It seemed to quiet the racing thoughts I was having at that time of night and make it easier to fall asleep.”

While alcohol can initially make people feel........

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