'All of a sudden my body decided that alcohol is poison'

In the summer of 2024, Netburn recalled her friend deciding to quit drinking alcohol entirely.

"All of a sudden my body decided that alcohol is poison," Netburn's friend said. "I can have as little as one drink, and I have a hangover."

Like Netburn, her friend was not a heavy drinker. Instead, she enjoyed the occasional glass of wine or cocktail at a bar with friends. While having several drinks could lead to complications the next morning, one or two drinks typically did not. At least, not until Netburn's friend reached her mid-40s.

What Netburn found, however, was that her friend's experience with alcohol tolerance wasn't an isolated one — a growing number of women in their mid-40s have reported increased sensitivity to alcohol, experiencing hangovers and other negative symptoms even after consuming small amounts.

To better understand why Netburn and her friend were experiencing difficulties tolerating alcohol as they aged, she reached out to George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Drinking and aging

"This is a new area of research," Koob said, noting that some studies show women are more sensitive to the toxic effects of alcohol and have heightened risks of developing alcohol-related liver disease and high blood pressure due to drinking.

According to Koob, as individuals age, they lose lean muscle mass and gain body fat, which results in higher blood alcohol concentrations and worse hangovers. However, men's bodies have higher concentrations of water (55% to 65%) compared to women (45% to 50%), which means the changing effects of alcohol on their bodies might not be as obvious as they are for women.

"You might drink the same amount of alcohol that you used to drink, but now that one drink is more like having one and a half or two drinks, because the alcohol is hanging out in the bloodstream," Koob said.

Not all women experience increased sensitivity to alcohol. Some of Netburn's friends, for example, may have developed a physiological tolerance or have different menopausal experiences.

Netburn and other women are adopting various strategies to cope with their reduced alcohol tolerance, such as becoming mocktail connoisseurs or limiting alcohol consumption to specific occasions.

Other friends have decided to give up drinking altogether.

What experts recommend

"If you feel better when you don't drink, then listen to your body," Koob said.

Koob advised those who do decide to continue drinking to consider eating a snack before consuming alcohol to "slow down the body's absorption" and "help blunt the irritation to the stomach," Netburn writes.

Koob also suggested avoiding ibuprofen immediately after drinking to mitigate negative effects, as it can also irritate the stomach.

Because alcohol can exacerbate symptoms of menopause in women, Christmas also offers a caution.

"If you're already experiencing mood instability, you're only going to feel that much worse when you drink alcohol," Christmas said.