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What You Need To Know About Alcohol And High Blood Pressure
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Consider contacting a healthcare professional, support group, or addiction treatment center for support and guidance on reducing or quitting drinking. Hypertension can cause life-threatening health issues like heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Therefore, monitoring and managing your blood pressure is crucial to reducing these health risks. The type of alcoholic beverage also determines the impact on health, with red wine being considered healthy, for instance, due to the high polyphenol content.
For example, some beers — especially craft beers — can contain about twice as much alcohol as above. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. A drink is 12 ounces (355 milliliters) of beer, 5 ounces (148 milliliters) of wine or 1.5 ounces (44 milliliters) of 80-proof distilled spirits.
Mental Health
This results in increased sensitivity of the blood vessels to compounds that constrict them. Read on to understand the relationship between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure. A unique feature described here is the comparison https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-does-alcohol-affect-your-blood-pressure/ of BP differences between the shortest and longest follow-up periods in the ABP studies. The SBP and DBP decreased 11.6 and 7.9 mm Hg, respectively, at the early time period in the three studies that presented multiple readings.
In another study,⁶ binge drinking was more likely to increase systolic blood pressure. High blood pressure is sometimes referred to as “the silent killer” due to a lack of noticeable symptoms. It is also a high-risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and heart failure. Alcohol raises BP in a small but statistically significant manner, averaging 2.7 mm for SBP and 1.4 mm Hg for DBP across all studies using a fixed-effects model. Excessive drinking disrupts the delicate balance of hormones and blood vessels that help maintain healthy blood pressure levels.
The Connection Between Hypertension and Alcohol
Try to gradually reduce consumption to one or two drinks per day; then, try to stop drinking altogether. If you have problems moderating or limiting alcohol consumption, there are many options available for support, such as rehab and counseling. A study has reported that⁷ heavy drinkers who completely stopped drinking for a month managed to lower their systolic pressure by about 7.2 mm Hg and their diastolic pressure by 6.6mm Hg. Many studies find that regular drinkers have a higher risk of high blood pressure than non-drinkers. Also, studies have found³ that heavy drinkers (more than 30 drinks per week) are twice as likely as non-drinkers to develop any type of hypertension. Lifestyle is a major cause of high blood pressure, and alcohol is among those unhealthy lifestyle choices.
- High blood pressure occurs when blood pushes too hard against the walls of the arteries as it flows through them.
- This disruption might be due to higher amounts of endorphins and histamine released by alcohol.
- It can lead to various negative physical and mental health effects, including liver damage, depression, and high blood pressure.
- Since high blood pressure makes your heart work harder, and increases the overall strain on your heart, you increase your risk of chest pains, breathlessness, and even heart attack.
- The jury is still out, though, on whether this could potentially improve high blood pressure in severe cases.
- This expansion of blood vessels can cause an increase in blood flow and subsequent elevation in blood pressure.
Your age and other risk factors linked to heart and blood pressure health will ultimately aid your decision with your doctor about drinking. But don’t expect any “all clears” for anything beyond light-moderate drinking. But if you’re younger than 50, particularly if you’re a woman, it’s not so clear. Studies have shown a rise in breast cancer risk in women under 50 from drinking alcohol. Anyone who is worried about hypertension and has trouble limiting their drinking to moderate levels can talk to a substance abuse counselor to help determine if their drinking has developed into alcohol misuse.
