Australians, it seems, have always been big drinkers. It’s almost part of our DNA to end the day with a drink. And that’s not just men.

Sixteen per cent of Australian women drink alcohol at dependent and therefore dangerous levels, according to recent research by the University of Western Sydney.

However, many researchers fear the real figure is probably significantly higher since very few of us admit that we drink too much.

The problem is we don’t live in a perfect world. Moreover, alcohol provides a seamless antidote to life’s imperfections – all that stress, bickering, frustration, and disappointment that we encounter every day swirled away in the bottom of a glass, at least for an hour or two.

In such a world, the very least a hard-working woman deserves after a crappy day in the office battling the boss or shepherding the kids off to school – or both – is a few glasses of decent plonk, right? Just to take the edge off.

But how often does one glass turn into two, or two into four until you wake up next day with a blurry hangover. So what’s a girl to do?

Well, says Australian-born, London-based psychologist, hypnotherapist and alcohol control specialist Georgia Foster, author of The Drink Less Mind: The Truth Behind Overdrinking, you could just stopping drinking all together.