Here’s What Actually Happens to Your Blood Pressure When You Drink Alcohol
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Here’s What Actually Happens to Your Blood Pressure When You Drink Alcohol
If you’re one of the nearly half of American adults with hypertension, you may mentally sort foods and drinks into two categories: what’s good for blood pressure and what you know you should minimize.
For example, berries, green tea and walnuts all fall into the good for blood pressure category. Soda, sugary treats and fatty meat all fall into the eat-minimally category. Following a heart-healthy diet can take mental effort at first, but after a while, it becomes second nature, and you no longer have to think about how each food and drink you consume impacts your heart.
But even if you’ve been following a heart-healthy diet for a while, there can still be some moments of confusion. For example, there is a lot of misinformation about whether eggs are beneficial for people with hypertension. Alcohol is also confusing. Perhaps you’ve heard before that red wine is good for heart health. What about other alcoholic beverages?
We talked to cardiologists about exactly how drinking alcohol impacts blood pressure—including the often lauded red wine. Here’s what they want everyone to know.
How Does Alcohol Impact Blood Pressure?
According to Dr. Mark Houston, MD, FACP, a cardiologist and chair for cardiovascular education at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), alcohol raises blood pressure shortly after drinking it.
Dr. Gary McGowan, MB, BCh, BAO, MSc, a medical doctor and nutritionist specializing in preventive cardiology at Triage Method in Ireland, echoes that drinking alcohol raises blood pressure after it’s consumed. “When we drink alcohol, it triggers the body’s stress ‘fight or flight’ response. This leads to an increase in heart rate and causes a narrowing of blood vessels, which increases blood pressure,” he explains.
Alcohol doesn’t just elevate blood pressure short term. Both experts say that when alcohol is consumed regularly, it elevates blood pressure long-term too. “Regular drinking can lead to sustained higher blood pressure. We see a tightening of blood vessels from the stress response and the damage alcohol causes to them, along with fluid and sodium retention. This is like adding more water to a closed plumbing system. The pressure inside the pipe increases,” Dr. McGowan explains.
Health & Wellness
Here’s What Actually Happens to Your Blood Pressure When You Drink Alcohol
If you’re one of the nearly half of American adults with hypertension, you may mentally sort foods and drinks into two categories: what’s good for blood pressure and what you know you should minimize.
For example, berries, green tea and walnuts all fall into the good for blood pressure category. Soda, sugary treats and fatty meat all fall into the eat-minimally category. Following a heart-healthy diet can take mental effort at first, but after a while, it becomes second nature, and you no longer have to think about how each food and drink you consume impacts your heart.
But even if you’ve been following a heart-healthy diet for a while, there can still be some moments of confusion. For example, there is a lot of misinformation about whether eggs are beneficial for people with hypertension. Alcohol is also confusing. Perhaps you’ve heard before that red wine is good for heart health. What about other alcoholic beverages?
We talked to cardiologists about exactly how drinking alcohol impacts blood pressure—including the often lauded red wine. Here’s what they want everyone to know.
Related: Cardiologists Swear by This One Daily Habit To Improve Heart Health
Table of Contents
How Does Alcohol Impact Blood Pressure?
Is Red Wine Good for Blood Pressure?
How Does Alcohol Impact Blood Pressure?
According to Dr. Mark Houston, MD, FACP, a cardiologist and chair for cardiovascular education at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), alcohol raises blood pressure shortly after drinking it.
Dr. Gary McGowan, MB, BCh, BAO, MSc, a medical doctor and nutritionist specializing in preventive cardiology at Triage Method in Ireland, echoes that drinking alcohol raises blood pressure after it’s consumed. “When we drink alcohol, it triggers the body’s stress ‘fight or flight’ response. This leads to an increase in heart rate and causes a narrowing of blood vessels, which increases blood pressure,” he explains.
Alcohol doesn’t just elevate blood pressure short term. Both experts say that when alcohol is consumed regularly, it elevates blood pressure long-term too. “Regular drinking can lead to sustained higher blood pressure. We see a tightening of blood vessels from the stress response and the damage alcohol causes to them, along with fluid and sodium retention. This is like adding more water to a closed plumbing system. The pressure inside the pipe increases,” Dr. McGowan explains.
Scientific research backs this up. Seven studies, with a total of more than 19,000 participants, found that those who consumed alcohol daily had higher blood pressure than those who didn’t.
There is another way that drinking alcohol increases blood pressure long-term, besides triggering the body’s fight or flight response. Dr. McGowan says that it can cause an increase in visceral fat around the organs in the abdomen. “This type of fat promotes inflammation and contributes to elevations in blood pressure,” he says. Scientific research shows that even moderate alcohol consumption can lead to more visceral fat.
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According to Dr. Mark Houston, MD, FACP, a cardiologist and chair for cardiovascular education at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), alcohol raises blood pressure shortly after drinking it.
Dr. Gary McGowan, MB, BCh, BAO, MSc, a medical doctor and nutritionist specializing in preventive cardiology at Triage Method in Ireland, echoes that drinking alcohol raises blood pressure after it’s consumed. “When we drink alcohol, it triggers the body’s stress ‘fight or flight’ response. This leads to an increase in heart rate and causes a narrowing of blood vessels, which increases blood pressure,” he explains.
Alcohol doesn’t just elevate blood pressure short term. Both experts say that when alcohol is consumed regularly, it elevates blood pressure long-term too. “Regular drinking can lead to sustained higher blood pressure. We see a tightening of blood vessels from the stress response and the damage alcohol causes to them, along with fluid and sodium retention. This is like adding more water to a closed plumbing system. The pressure inside the pipe increases,” Dr. McGowan explains.
Scientific research backs this up. Seven studies, with a total of more than 19,000 participants, found that those who consumed alcohol daily had higher blood pressure than those who didn’t.
There is another way that drinking alcohol increases blood pressure long-term, besides triggering the body’s fight or flight response. Dr. McGowan says that it can cause an increase in visceral fat around the organs in the abdomen. “This type of fat promotes inflammation and contributes to elevations in blood pressure,” he says. Scientific research shows that even moderate alcohol consumption can lead to more visceral fat.
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