21st October 2013 – Mail Online – Are YOU an ‘Oblivion Drinker’?
Like many women, when Liz Hill wants to relax after a stressful day, she opens the fridge and pours herself a large glass or two of her favourite Australian chardonnay.
Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, a consultant psychiatrist specialising in stress and addiction at the Nightingale Hospital, is deeply concerned about the rise in mature professional women drinking their stress away. “I see so many senior female lawyers and bankers who rely on a couple of glasses of wine at the end of every day – they can’t imagine life without it. It’s a huge problem… These older women, usually with children, are drinking at the end of the day, often alone and in increasing quantities as their tolerance to alcohol grows. Although it’s not alcohol dependence in a traditional sense, there are dangerous side-effects such as increased irritability, mood swings and the risk of liver damage, especially for those also on medication.”
And, ironically, drinking to sleep better actually makes the problem worse, because alcohol interferes with rest.
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