The menopause support platform Health & Her has found that 80 per cent of women reported at least one trigger of perimenopause symptoms, including stress, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.

The research conducted on 55,047 women going through perimenopause has shown that 54 per cent of participants reported stress at work as a major trigger. Examples of work stressors might be meeting a tight deadline, presenting in front of clients, attending performance reviews and taking part in social events.

“There are an estimated three million women currently going through perimenopause in the UK,” says Dr Rebeccah Tomlinson, GP menopause specialist at Health & Her.

“Although symptoms are primarily due to falling sex hormone levels, many of these women are unaware of the way mental health, lifestyle and diet choices can trigger the frequency and severity of their perimenopause symptoms.

“The reason stress at work is cited so frequently by women is because oestrogen helps maintain cortisol levels, so when oestrogen levels start to drop things go out of balance. It then becomes a vicious circle. The more you stress, the more you experience mind, mood, and sleep problems.”

Health & Her research found stress of this nature highly correlated to mind and mood symptoms of perimenopause including anxiety, low mood, poor concentration, brain fog and memory loss.

With more than four million perimenopausal or menopausal women currently in the workplace and one in ten leaving the workplace, finding ways to help them manage stress to minimise triggering symptoms is vital.

The research confirms a link between stressful events and worse menopause symptoms. However, according to the report, it is not necessarily the event that exacerbates symptoms but how a woman responds to that event.

Just under half (47 per cent) of the women surveyed reported this as trigger alongside anxiety, poor concentration, memory loss and heart palpitations.

Two in five women reported they started to experience more sensitivity to caffeine as they progressed through perimenopause.

Dr Rebeccah says this happens due to the caffeine found in tea, coffee and energy drinks that accelerates the nervous system, increases alertness, and interferes with the absorption of vitamins and minerals.

“Whilst it might seem like a good pick me up after a bad night’s sleep, caffeine can have a detrimental effect on sleep, causing insomnia which is one of the most common symptoms of perimenopause,” she adds.

Additionally, four in ten women found that they experienced an issue with alcohol tolerance.

Alcohol causes the blood vessels to dilate and raise the internal body temperature, leading to more hot flushes and night sweats, higher levels of cortisol, disrupted sleep, mood swings and increased dehydration.

Sugar posed a moderate issue for one third of the women. Sugary snacks are known to cause rapid high spikes in blood sugar levels.

High blood sugar, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are linked to hot flushes in perimenopausal women while dips in blood sugar can impact energy and mood levels. These spikes and dips can lead to a cycle of snacking on quick fix foods that can exacerbate menopausal weight gain and other symptoms such as bloating, digestive issues and memory loss, the researchers say.

Kate Bache, co-founder at Health & Her, says: “Seeing stress featuring twice in the top five triggers, it’s no wonder 15 per cent of women experiencing perimenopausal women have called in sick due to their symptoms.

“Women are struggling to perform at their job, due to the severity of their symptoms and lack of support.

“Almost a quarter of perimenopausal women surveyed admitted to making mistakes at work, while six per cent had to skip meetings to deal with their symptoms.”

Bache’s Health & Her aims to support perimenopausal and menopausal women through its Employer Menopause Support Plan.

The package offers clinic access to menopause-specialist GPs, advice, managerial and employee training, digital tools and webinars to help women track and manage menopause symptoms and support the employees who work with them.

“Businesses need to learn to adapt, create a space and culture that supports perimenopausal women to retain them in the workplace,” says Bache.

“These women are at a point in their lives where they have the experience, talent, and skills to positively contribute to the workforce. By offering the right help and developing the right plan around they will be able to continue to progress in their careers, rather leaving due to their symptoms.”