Columnist Clare Foges describes her transition from a heavy drinker in her youth to a nearly sober lifestyle at age 45. She suggests that many middle-aged mothers are abandoning alcohol due to physical changes and a desire for better health.

From ten units a night to ten units a year

Clare Foges, a mother of four, reports a drastic shift in her relationship with alcohol as she entered her forties.. According to the report, Foges previously consumed significant amounts of alcohol in her 20s and 30s , often starting her evenings with Sauvignon Blanc and moving to double vodkas or bottles of prosecco. Today, she maintains a strict limit of fewer than ten units of alcohol per year, occasionally indulging in a single kir royale during the Christmas season.

This personal evolution reflects a broader trend where the perceived social rewards of drinking are outweighed by the physical toll. Foges notes that while she once enjoyed being the "last one on the dancefloor," the biological reality of aging has shifted the cost-benefit analysis of a night out.

Steven Bartlett’s claim that two glasses ruin three days

The debate over moderate drinking was recently reignited by Steven Bartlett, host of the Diary of a CEO podcast. As reported in the source, Bartlett claimed that consuming just a couple of glasses of wine could "ruin three days of life" due to a domino effect that impairs sleep, disrupts the dopamine and cortisol systems, and reduces gym performance. Bartlett used data from his Whoop wearable device to track these productivity losses.

Bartlett's assertions sparked a wave of public backlash from British celebrities. figures such as influencer Vogue Williams , broadcaster Fearne Cotton, and BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James mocked the podcaster's approach to self-optimization, with some suggesting that his rigid adherence to health metrics prevents him from actually "living his life."

The 'vino-signalling' of British drinking culture

The reaction to Steven Bartlett highlights what Clare Foges describes as "vino-signalling," a cultural phenomenon where British citizens use their tolerance for alcohol to signal that they are "a jolly good laugh." In the United Kingdom, Foges argues, sobriety is often unfairly equated with being a "joyless control freak," and social acceptance is frequently tied to one's ability to handle a hangover.

This cultural obsession extends even to the political sphere. Foges observes that British voters often judge potential prime ministers based on whether they seem like someone one could "go for a pint with," suggesting that social lubrication is viewed as a proxy for trustworthiness or leadership capability.

How menopause slows alcohol metabolism in 40-something women

For many women in their forties, the decision to reduce alcohol is driven by biological necessity rather than a desire for "self-optimization." Foges writes that she now experiences "lower-case hangovers"—sluggishness and brain fog—after as little as two glasses of wine. This shift is often linked to the onset of menopause, during which the body's ability to metabolise alcohol slows down significantly.

This physiological change transforms alcohol from a social tool into a liability. When hormonal shifts intersect with the demands of parenting young children, the "domino effect" mentioned by Steven Bartlett becomes a daily reality for middle-aged mothers who can no longer afford a day of diminished productivity.

The missing medical data on hormonal alcohol intolerance

While the report links the decline in drinking to menopause and hormonal changes, it does not provide specific medical citations or expert testimony from endocrinologists to quantify this metabolic slowdown. It remains unclear exactly how much the metabolism of ethanol drops during the menopausal transition compared to general aging.

Furthermore, the source primarily presents the perspective of Clare Foges and a handful of her peers. There is a lack of broader statistical data to confirm if this "sober curious" trend is a widespread demographic shift among British mothers or a localized trend among a specific social class of "self-optimizing" professionals.