If you already have high blood pressure, cutting down on alcohol or stopping altogether can help to reduce or control it. If you do drink as much as 14 units per week, it’s best to spread this what does alcohol do to your blood pressure evenly over 3 days or more. But anything more than a drink or so a day has the opposite effect, especially if you abuse or are addicted to alcohol. “Excessive alcohol consumption can cause nerve damage and irreversible forms of dementia,” Dr. Sengupta warns. Your body breaks alcohol down into a chemical called acetaldehyde, which damages your DNA.
- If a person thinks that they might be consuming alcohol at a rate that would classify as moderate drinking, heavy drinking, or binge drinking, they should consider cutting back to improve their overall health and well-being.
- Your weekly get-togethers often involve a drink or two and getting home from work may have you reaching for a beer before you sit down to relax.
- When moderate alcohol drinking leads to unhealthy forms of drinking, it is known as binge drinking and it increases your risk of hypertension.
- Following successful completion of detox, if a person is or has struggled with alcoholism, it may be time to seek an inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation program to allow further work toward recovery and relapse prevention.
Brain
Heavy alcohol drinking increases blood pressure by about 5 to 10 mmHg and the increase in systolic pressure is more than that in diastolic blood pressure. Common symptoms of low blood pressure after drinking include dizziness, nausea, and fatigue. Recognizing these signs is Oxford House essential for maintaining health, especially if they occur frequently following alcohol consumption. Another aspect worth discussing is dehydration’s role when consuming alcoholic beverages. Alcohol acts as a diuretic; it increases urine production leading to fluid loss from the body.
- To understand how alcohol can cause high blood pressure, we must first explore how alcohol interacts with the body.
- If you experience these symptoms frequently after drinking, it might be wise to evaluate your consumption patterns or consult with a healthcare provider.
- Holiday heart syndrome can happen if you don’t typically drink alcohol, but then have a few at a holiday party or if you binge drink.
➤ Alcohol’s Vasodilatory Effects: Alcohol can temporarily lower blood pressure.
Alcohol consumption affects the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism says that alcohol stimulates the release of renin, a hormone that works to regulate blood pressure, more than twofold. When excess renin is released, it results in the overproduction of the hormone aldosterone, which is responsible for water and salt retention in the body. Too much renin and aldosterone increase blood volume and vascular resistance, leading to high blood pressure.
- The authors of a 2020 review suggest that there isn’t enough evidence to say that small amounts of alcohol have a cardioprotective effect.
- “The good news is that earlier stages of steatotic liver disease are usually completely reversible in about four to six weeks if you abstain from drinking alcohol,” Dr. Sengupta assures.
- Understanding how alcohol affects blood pressure is crucial for making informed decisions about consumption.
- Most had three to 14 drinks per week, and fewer than 3% drank 35 or more drinks per week.
Research Findings on Alcohol Consumption
In some cases, moderate to high levels of alcohol may cause blood pressure to rise. Regular visits with a healthcare professional also are key to controlling blood pressure. If your blood pressure is well controlled, ask your healthcare professional how often you need to check it.
Conen 2008 published data only
We (ST and CT) independently screened the citations found through the database search using Covidence software (Covidence). We excluded articles if the citation seemed completely irrelevant or was identified as a review or observational study after the title and abstract were read. For remaining studies, we (ST and CT) retrieved full‐text articles for further assessment.
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